New Ghana coach Avram Grant has been given a mandate to "do well" at the African Nations Cup finals in Equatorial Guinea but he has much work to do to win over sceptical Black Stars fans ahead of their Group C opener against Senegal in Mongomo on Monday (kick-off 16h00 GMT).
Former Chelsea boss Grant, an expensive import for the Ghana Football Association, will know all too well that a first round exit at the tournament will put him under immediate pressure in what is one of the hottest seats in African football.
The Black Stars have finished in the top four in the last four Nations Cup tournaments and the expectations, despite a rebuilding job following the World Cup in Brazil, will be for more of the same.
And Grant has been scrutinised in depth by fans back home, who have criticised his record, his style of play and even his touchline demeanour in the build-up to the competition.
In fairness to the Israeli, he has had little time to work with the players, having only been appointed in late November, and then being landed with a tough pool that also includes top-ranked Algeria and ever-improving South Africa.
The team had their preparations in Spain where a host of niggling injuries disrupted Grant's plans and even forced the cancellation of one of their proposed friendly games against German Bundesliga side Freiburg.
The most serious of these was to skipper Asamoah Gyan, who declared himself ready for the tournament after a few days of angst.
Despite the new faces in their squad, captain Gyan says he is confident they can go deep into the tournament when asked if they could exceed expectations.
"I think so. We have done it before - we did it in Angola (in 2010)," Gyan said.
"I remember that time, 80 or 85 percent of the players were from the Under-20 team and there was no hope. But we were able to get to the final, we came very close and lost in the final."
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They face a resurgent Senegal first up which will be a test of Gyan's theory, though Alain Giresse's men have a habit of capitulating at continental finals.
They were many people's tip for the tournament in 2012 when Equatorial Guinea co-hosted with Gabon, but ended up losing all three pool matches and going home in disgrace.
Their problems in the past have centred around having plenty of star names, but no team ethic and little cohesion among the players.
It is a point well-known to Giresse, who for that reason decided against selecting arguably the country's most potent forward, Demba Ba, who he has hinted can be a disruptive influence in the dressing room.
Giresse who is also likely to be without injured Southampton forward Sadio Mane for the game, says they know the challenge ahead.
"It will be like any game against a good team that has quality," he told reporters. "We must therefore prepare for this match accordingly. In this group, we know that there will be no easy games.
"We will prepare thoroughly at the first meeting and we know the level of performance we need if we are to advance in this Afcon."
