Motherwell boss Graham Alexander says his side won't have to guard against a 'new manager bounce' at Kilmarnock tomorrow, but will need to overcome Tommy Wright's team.
Alexander says any notion of a new face coming in to the dug-out and dramatically changing a team's fortunes is a myth, but that different ideas can change things on the training pitch.
To that end, he expects a stern challenge at Rugby Park, but says his side will be looking for three points as they do in every game.
Alexander said: "I would expect a team of players who are desperate to impress their new manager.
"A lot is said about the 'new manager bounce' throughout football but for me we're going to plan on how we want to play.
"The formation of Kilmarnock could be anything, they've chopped and changed a little bit over the last few weeks anyway and obviously Tommy's going to come in with his own ideas.
"If ever there was a game where we needed to focus on what we're going to bring to the game it's tomorrow, because it's very difficult to analyse what their team might look like.
"I would expect them to be a hard-working team and tough to beat, from our previous knowledge of Tommy's teams, certainly at St Johnstone, because I'm good mates with his former assistant Callum [Davidson].
"But it's about the 11 players going out and doing the job tomorrow night against another 11 players, and I think both teams will be motivated to win the game."
Alexander added: "It doesn't always come true with the 'new manager bounce'; I think a lot of the time there is no bounce and it's about the work that you do on the training ground and the way the players respond to it, that's where the 'bounce' comes from.
"Just putting another voice in charge suddenly turns the tables upside down and an under-performing team become world-beaters - I don't think it happens just as easy as that, football's not that simple.
"It comes from the work each coach or manager does on the training pitch with the players, the way they respond to it, and that's how I see it.
"Tommy's a good manager, he has been successful, so if there is any bounce coming from Kilmarnock it will be coming from Tommy because he's a good manager, not because he's a new face."
Alexander says the reaction his players had to Saturday's defeat at Celtic showed that they're hungry for success, and hopes that works well for them in a hectic schedule of fixtures.
He said: "It's another opportunity to win three points. Honestly, we went into the Celtic game looking to win three points over the 90 minutes, that's what we are trying to achieve in every game.
"Every game is an opportunity to put points on the board and tomorrow is no different.
"We've played the teams at the top, we're going to be playing at the bottom and mid-table, and we have to understand that in every game we have to give ourselves the best chance of winning it.
"One game isn't going to get us to where we want to be, it's going to be a process over a significant amount of time, between now and the end of the season I would expect, for us to get to the points tally that we want.
"If we win the game it's not us on easy street and relaxing; if we don't win the game it's not us in big, bad trouble again.
"It's about where we are in two months' time, for me, and this is just the next step in that run of fixtures.
"All the games for me are important, I don't prioritise the big ones like Rangers and Celtic as a free hit, it's a chance for us to win points and that's how we go into it, and tomorrow is no different from that perspective.
"I was delighted with how we responded to going 2-0 down, I was delighted how the players responded after the game with anger and frustration that we didn't get something out of it.
"It wasn't just accepting a close defeat, and that shows the players have the right attitude to try and win some more games.
"We're going into a spell [with a lot of games] but the players work hard in training.I don't think we made any changes from the team that played against Dundee United for the Celtic game and physically we finished the game exceptionally well on Saturday.
"These boys are fit, they want to use their energy, so as long as we can stay injury-free I have no concerns about their fitness levels going into what is a thick fixture list coming in the next few weeks.
"I think whoever we win our next game against will give us a massive lift for us as a group, it will continue the confidence that is going through the group at the minute, which I really feel is still there.
"We're looking forward to the challenge but without doubt we're only looking at tomorrow's game, not what is coming after that."
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