Fresh from apologising to his club's supporters, Patrick Kisnorbo is already facing a major examination in his pioneering role as the first Australian manager to take the reins in one of Europe's big five soccer leagues.
As coach of yo-yo club Troyes in France's Ligue 1, Kisnorbo has his work cut out to keep his side from being relegated to the second tier after initial optimism about his historic appointment in late November has subsided over a bleak winter.
But the tough 41-year-old Melburnian, who's never shied away from a battle against the odds, is adamant he's ready for the fight to prevent his spell at the town in the heart of Champagne country from going horribly flat.
"I want to apologise to our supporters who have travelled a lot of kilometres to come and encourage us," bemoaned Kisnorbo to reporters after Troyes' 4-0 defeat at Reims last Sunday proved the low point of his reign to date.
"We have to fight for our supporters and for the club, but today we didn't.
"If you're not mentally ready, ready to fight, it doesn't work. We have to give ourselves a lot more.
"I come from an environment, in Australia, where you fight for every inch, and right now we're not doing it enough, not being aggressive enough."
The trailblazing appointment of the one-time Socceroo defender, who impressed enough as Melbourne City coach to be promoted to the next rung of Manchester City's CFG soccer empire in Europe, began well enough with a draw and victory in his first two matches at Troyes.
But they've lost six and drawn just one of their next seven matches, while shipping an alarming 21 goals. From taking over when they were 13th, they've now slipped to 16th, just one point above the four-team drop zone, with the defence still leaking like a sieve.
"I'm not really worried, because we conceded four avoidable goals, on small errors that we must quickly correct, because at the moment, we are punished every time," the upbeat Kisnorbo told reporters after the Reims defeat.
He sounds confident enough despite this being the first time he's had to manage a club in a relegation dogfight, but Troyes, who've flitted between the two top divisions for years, have to stop the goal-haemorrhaging swiftly.
On Sunday at their Stade de l'Aube home, their next test is to tackle Montpellier, who are not out of relegation danger themselves.
"There are 15 matches left, 15 derbies left," said Kisnorbo. "We have to manage all these matches like finals."
