There are few who would envy the challenge faced by Jesse Marsch over the coming weeks.
Leeds United's new manager takes over with the club hovering just above the Premier League's relegation places, and with his inherited team dead last when it comes to the league's form table.
To compound things, he has replaced a near universally popular figure in the form of Marcelo Bielsa, a man who Marsch himself has recognised as "a hero" at Elland Road.
The American's first task will be solving the terrible form, with Leeds having lost their last four on the spin while conceding an eye-watering 17 goals.
There may be cause for optimism, though, as he has rebounded from this kind of run not once but twice while establishing himself as a manager.
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Marsch started strongly after taking over as New York Red Bulls manager in 2015, losing just one of his first 10 MLS games in charge, but that run was quickly followed by four losses on the spin.
Second-half performances were a clear issue during that period, with the Red Bulls conceding nine second-period goals across those four defeats compared to just one in the first half.
After that kind of run, sometimes all you need is a win of any kind, however narrow and however scrappy, and on that occasion such a result was provided by a man whose name will be well-known to Leeds fans.
Mike Grella scored the only goal of the game as Marsch's men beat nine-man Real Salt Lake, and the American forward recognised how the losing streak had helped the team learn a bit about themselves.
"Sometimes in football, to be a winner, a lot of the winners all over the world have a little bit of nastiness to them, they have a little bit of cleverness to them, and we thought maybe we were missing that little nastiness and cleverness in both boxes to finish games and get the three points out of games," Grella said.
As for Marsch himself, he had pledged before the game to "look hard at everything from what we're doing tactically to what we're doing selection-wise" after some "borderline panicky" moments in the last of the four straight defeats, and that narrow win was the start of a big turnaround.
A run of seven wins from nine propelled the Red Bulls into title contention, and sure enough, they sat atop the table come the end of the season to lift the Supporters' Shield.
And so, by the time a similar predicament rolled around early in the 2016 campaign, the manager knew there was a way out.
"Honestly, it's wild what we've been through," Marsch said in April 2016 after Colorado Rapids handed his team a fourth defeat on the spin and sixth in the first seven games of the season - the kind of record which, were it not for the previous season's achievements, might have left the American under more pressure.
"That kind of effort and that kind of push [the team] showed... that's our pathway to success that we know we can get to.
"I will continue to say the same thing which is I know we have a good team and this is going to turn.
"The belief I have in this group hasn't changed and it won't change, because I see it every day."
While those on the outside might read the above as stubbornness, those within Elland Road appreciated similar levels of belief from Bielsa during the Argentine's spell in charge, and it was that trust and belief which helped carry the club up to the Premier League and stay there.
Of course, the easiest way to remove any doubt about such an attitude is by bringing about a change in fortunes from the get-go. And barely a month after losing in Colorado, Marsch was watching on with pride as his Red Bulls side put seven unanswered goals past a New York City FC side containing Andrea Pirlo, David Villa and current Leeds United man Jack Harrison.
That derby victory was part of a run of 19 points from eight games, lifting the Red Bulls back towards where they should be, and a 16-game unbeaten run to close out the season meant they ended up just three points shy of topping the table for a second straight season.
There are differences this time, of course.
Marsch is no longer managing in his home country, and the lack of relegation from MLS means the stakes are higher if he can't make things click at his new club.
However, at the same time, he has been brought in to arrest a slide which was overseen by someone other than himself. As popular as Bielsa was, both with his players and with supporters, sometimes the best man to reverse a slide can simply be anyone other than the person responsible.
Things won't be easy for Marsch, with games against fellow strugglers Norwich, Watford and Brentford all looking particularly momentous over the coming weeks, but he'll hope to take something from the fact that he's masterminded this kind of recovery before.
