Motherwell legend James McFadden blasts players for Euro exit as he defends Graham Alexander

James McFadden has blasted Motherwell's players for their performances against Sligo Rovers as he jumped to the defence of gaffer Graham Alexander.

The Fir Park legend was gutted to see the Steelmen crash out of the Europa Conference League at the second qualifying stage after a 2-0 loss in Ireland sealed a 3-0 aggregate defeat.

And while a lot of the criticism for the early exit is being levelled at his former Scotland team-mate, Faddy gave an impassioned verdict on the performance of the players, insisting they need to put greater demands on themselves and those around them.

He told BBC Radio Scotland: "People look at the manager and I played with Graham Alexander, he's a brilliant guy.

"The way he trained, the way he lived his life into his 40s... he made his Premier League debut at 37 because of his mentality and his attitude.

"Because he put demands on himself and others.

"So you are not telling me that he's not putting these demands on these players.

"The players need to step up and say: 'I'm ready to accept those demands but I want to put demands on players around me.'

"And I don't see enough players doing that.

"Did they think this was going to be easy and they'd just roll Sligo over?

"Did they think they'd just turn up and we'll win the second leg, we are Motherwell, we've got a right to just turn up and do it?

"It's always the manager that takes the flak.

"But the players need to take responsibility for that because they are the ones on the pitch."

Motherwell did create numerous chances during 180 minutes of football, but the final product was sorely lacking.

McFadden has been left frustrated their overall play and says players need to do more to support the likes of striker Kevin van Veen, and also be braver