Tottenham boss Igor Tudor arrives at Spurs nursing a critical absentee crisis, with the Croatian expected to be without an injured star until early April.
Tudor did not need long to grasp the size of the job.
From the moment the Croatian walked through the doors at Hotspur Way on Monday morning, the picture in front of him was stark. A squad depleted by double-digit absentees.
A club sitting 16th in the Premier League, just five points above the drop zone, and a North London derby against Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday — his first game in charge.
Thomas Frank's eight-month reign ended in acrimony and mounting frustration, with the Dane unable to arrest a slide that has left Tottenham contemplating the unthinkable — relegation from the Premier League for the first time in their history.
Tudor, the man called in to prevent it, arrives with a reputation for short-term impact and an 'exciting' brand of football.
He has steadied ships at Juventus, Lazio and Marseille before. This, though, might be his toughest ask yet.
The injury list alone would make any manager wince.
Captain Cristian Romero will not return until mid-March, and is also serving a four-match suspension.
James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohammed Kudus, Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur are all sidelined. Wilson Odobert has just suffered an ACL injury that looks likely to end his season entirely.
Destiny Udogie faces another month on the treatment table. Ten players missed the last outing. Ten.
Tudor has spoken of finding the right system for those available. That is not tactical tinkering — it is triage.
Among the names on that treatment room list is one that causes particular concern looking further ahead. A player who, when fully fit, represents one of the brightest young talents in European football.
A midfielder who was supposed to be central to Tottenham's future, not an afterthought in a survival battle.
That man is Lucas Bergvall, who has been sidelined since picking up an ankle sprain against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
According to journalist Dean Jones of TEAMtalk, the expectation is that Bergvall will be sidelined for another six weeks — a timeline that takes his return into April and removes him entirely from the most critical phase of Tottenham's season.
Six weeks. For a club fighting relegation, that is an eternity.
Bergvall's absence is not just a problem for today.
It speaks to a wider malaise at Spurs — a club that has spent hundreds of millions of pounds assembling what looks, on paper, like a strong squad, yet consistently finds itself unable to put those players on the pitch together.
The injury culture at Hotspur Way is a conversation that has been building for some time, and Tudor will have no choice but to address it.
For now, though, he simply needs results. Sunday cannot come quickly enough for the neutral - and yet, for Spurs, it already feels too soon.