Alex McLeish hopes former club Aberdeen do not sack manager Stephen Robinson.

Robinson is under pressure, with Saturday's 4-0 Scottish Premiership loss at home to Hibernian the Dons' fourth in a row in all competitions.

Robinson has been in charge since March.

"I thought Stephen would go in there and rock it a wee bit because I like him, he's a good lad," McLeish told BBC Scotland. "I've been pally with him down in England.

"I thought he could maybe take things to another level but we're still waiting on that and Stevie will try his hardest and darndest to try and get that right.

"He's got a good way about him. He's a good coach. I hope Stevie doesn't get sacked.

"Obviously, you can't keep going forward when you're getting terrible results and that was a real blow, a real killer of a game [in the 4-0 loss to Hibernian].

"The football has to rise. The manager will be feeling it really badly."

McLeish does not blame Aberdeen's board for the club's current woes and has urged more from the players.

"The board have really worked hard over the years to try and get Aberdeen back to a kind of level, won a cup a couple of years ago," McLeish said. "I don't blame the board for anything at all.

"Recruitment is absolutely key and if you've bought a bunch of players and then they're not performing then that is a real worry.

"There's a few players in there that are already at a good level but can the others jump on that wagon and get Aberdeen rolling again because it's a very difficult time for them.

"I'm not going to criticise the players because I'm not really sure what level they're at. You have to be a fairly good level to be in the Aberdeen team and to get back to that kind of level is going to be tough."