"More than optimistic" was how Ralf Rangnick began an answer to a question on his first day as Manchester United manager, having been asked about the prospect of his new team taking him up against managerial heavyweights such as Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel.
Rangnick had impressed throughout his media dealings on that first day in office and while he struck an upbeat tone it was also one dosed in realism. This was a team struggling for form and confidence.
“I am more than optimistic, but I also have to be realistic," the 63-year-old said. “Five weeks ago, our team lost 5-0 against Liverpool — and it could have been a lot more if we are honest. Against City it was 2-0 — but it could also have been more.
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“It was important to win the point at Chelsea but the performance? I don’t know. They had 24 shots on goal and we had three.
“So right now, to say I will challenge the top Premier League managers in the next few weeks or months, is not realistic.
“Right now my focus is on Crystal Palace and then on Young Boys, then Norwich, then Brighton and then Brentford. The games against Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City will be in March and April — and that’s when I will answer the question about challenging them.”
Well, now that time is upon us. When Rangnick was answering these questions, the date of March 6TH wouldn't have been circled on his calendar. It was so distant as to be irrelevant at the time.
But football can creep up on you quickly. The Manchester derby was 94 days away when Rangnick started work at Old Trafford. That was 94 days of work, of gradual improvement, of introducing his idea of high pressing to this squad ready to fight fire with fire at the Etihad.
Now that the week of the derby is upon us, we will find out if Rangnick has retained that confidence about going head-to-head with the big clubs. United have 11 games left to play and must still face City, Liverpool and Chelsea, as well as Arsenal and Tottenham.
The German's first 17 games in charge couldn't have been handpicked to be more routine. There was been one heavyweight faced, in an out of sorts Atletico Madrid. Aside from that United's hardest games, on paper, have been at home to West Ham and away to Aston Villa.
Eight of those games have ended in victory and while United have started to play better recently, it's fair to say they haven't improved to the level Rangnick might have demanded back at the start of December. Even improved performances haven't always coincided with results and under the interim manager, United have failed to beat Watford, Southampton, Burnley, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Wolves, Newcastle and Young Boys.
They certainly don't press with the intensity he normally demands. There was always an acceptance that introducing those methods mid-season would be difficult, but United's pressing game probably peaked in Rangnick's first match in charge against Crystal Palace. They are more organised now when it comes to pressing but it's an occasional burst, rather than the intensity of City, Liverpool, or even Southampton.
When Rangnick took charge of United they had played 14 games and were 11 points behind Manchester City and seventh in the Premier League. They are now fourth, although they are vulnerable to teams that have games in hand on them, and are 19 points behind City.
It was always unrealistic to expect United to close that gap under Rangnick but they've not taken charge of the race for fourth as might have been expected. And they've just been through a 13 game stretch of league fixtures that is about as routine as can be expected.
There's no doubt the difficulty level rockets now, starting with the derby. Rangnick will know there's no place quite like the Premier League for managers and in the next couple of months he will pit his wits against Guardiola, Klopp, Tuchel and Antonio Conte. We'll find out how optimistic he still is about those fixtures this weekend.
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