Lee Johnson is aware of the task he faces to drag Fleetwood up League One after his first match in charge ended in a 3-0 defeat to Oxford.
Goals from Stanley Mills, Billy Bodin and Kyle Edwards earned the visitors a dominant victory.
Fleetwood sit bottom of the table, with just one point to their name after seven matches, and new boss Johnson knows he has a lot of work to do.
“It was certainly not the start I wanted,” Johnson said.
“I thought it was neck and neck for the first 15 minutes, but then they scored a very good goal from their point of view and a very disappointing goal from our point of view.
“I’m looking at the boys and we have to commit. The biggest thing for me is that commitment.
“We had to commit to executing what we’ve worked on during the week and putting their bodies on the line – and we didn’t.
“Obviously we’re in this position and we are where we are. There’s a lot of hard work to do.
“But don’t get me wrong, I’ve lost no enthusiasm for the hard work which lies ahead.
“However, at the same time, we’ve got to be really honest with an evaluation of the game today.
“It’s a big job, but I understand that. You don’t normally get jobs which are top of the league, the club are flying and ready to go.
“But I won’t shirk the challenge, I’m very grateful for the opportunity I’ve been given here.”
Oxford boss Liam Manning paid tribute to his side’s togetherness registered their fifth win in their last six league outings.
“There was an unpredictability element with their change of manager, so it was never going to be an easy place to come,” Manning said.
“We knew it would be a tough opening to the game, which we spoke about, and to be fair it was.
“It took us seven hours of travelling to get here, so you have to take things like that into account.
“But huge credit to the lads.
“It was a professional performance which, ultimately, got us what we deserve.
“The goals were high-quality moments. We know we’ve got players who can produce moments of quality like that.
“We’ve got a variety of attacking players now who can chip in. We don’t want to be dependent on one person to score 20-25 goals, everybody has to chip in and play their part. We did that today.
“It could have been more as well because we hit the woodwork twice.
“But overall I’m delighted for the players because you can’t just turn up and do that, you have to work every single day.
“They’ve trained terrifically this week – and that’s their rewards for it. You can just see how together the group are.”
Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Hilal: Mitrovic scores last-gasp penalty
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a penalty in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time as Al-Hilal denied Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr victory in a 1-1 draw.
Mitrovic netted his 27th Saudi Pro League goal of the campaign after Sadio Mane was harshly judged to have fouled Saud Abdulhamid in the area.
Mane stuck out an arm to shield the ball, catching his opponent in the throat, though the contact appeared to have been outside of the box.
Mitrovic made no mistake to keep Al-Hilal's unbeaten campaign going.
The Serbian's spot-kick cancelled out Otavio's first-minute opener, with Ronaldo having set up his compatriot.
Champions Al-Hilal remain 12 points clear of Al-Nassr at the summit of the Pro League standings.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the provider
Ronaldo leads the scoring charts in Saudi Arabia this season, though he had to settle for an assist on Friday.
That came from the only chance he created, with the 39-year-old limited to 25 touches, though he did have four shots.
Al-Ittihad pegged back as winless run rolls on
Mohamed Sherif scored late on as Al-Ittihad's winless run in the Saudi Pro League stretched to four games after a 1-1 draw with Al-Khaleej.
Al-Ittihad have endured a miserable title defence, and with just two games remaining, the highest the big-spending, PIF-backed club can finish is fourth.
Muhannad Al Shanqiti put them ahead on the stroke of half-time, yet despite having a further eight shots and accumulating 1.07 xG in the second half, Al-Ittihad could not add another.
Their profligacy proved costly in the 81st minute, with Egypt international Sherif snatching an equaliser for 11th-placed Al-Khaleej.
Al-Tai moved out of the relegation zone with a surprise 3-1 win over seventh-placed Al-Fateh, with Bernard Mensah scoring twice.
Al-Raed, meanwhile, claimed a 1-0 win at Al-Wehda.
Data Debrief: Kante the creator?
On the day he received a surprising France recall, N'Golo Kante created three chances for Al-Ittihad, leading the team.
On the flip side, Kante only attempted one tackle, with the midfielder showing a different side to his game, not that it proved fruitful for his team.
Ronaldo motivated to keep playing at top level
Cristiano Ronaldo has no intention of stopping as he says he is still motivated to compete with the "young lions" coming through in the game.
Ronaldo is reportedly considering signing a contract extension to keep him at Al-Nassr until June 2026, taking him past his 41st birthday.
The Portugal international has scored 42 goals in 41 appearances for the Saudi Pro League club this season, and he insists he is still motivated to keep going.
Speaking on the Whoop podcast, he said: "I feel proud to have this age and still compete at the highest level. It's great, and it gives me motivation to carry on.
"If you look at my career for the last 20 years, my level is high. If you are top for 20 years, it's unbelievable.
"I do that, and I continue to do that. For me, it's a big achievement."
Ronaldo has scored an incredible 891 goals in his career and is the all-time leading scorer in men’s international football with 128 goals.
"My biggest motivation is to carry on," he added. "It's not easy to be at this level.
"To still push, to still motivate, to carry on, to score goals, to be in good shape, to compete with the young lions that are coming and that when they play against me, they want to show me that they are stronger and faster than me.
"You have to prepare very well, not just physically but mentally, too. This is the challenge.
"Talent without work is nothing and work without talent is nothing. They have to work together at the same time. I have both. I can't say that I have more of one than the other.
"Small details will make the difference. Consistency is the most difficult thing.
"Are you willing to do that? That's the main point, because everyone wants to be Cristiano, but doing it is difficult. Discipline is the most difficult thing."
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