There had been a comforting positivity around Everton since David Moyes' appointment as manager last week; the sombre, almost resigned atmosphere initially replaced by warm, fuzzy nostalgia.
But for this Everton right now, such moments are only ever fleeting. Wednesday's 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa was a sobering reminder of the scale of the task ahead, an evening where even the usually reliable new manager bounce eluded them.
"A huge challenge," was how Moyes, less than a week into his new job, described it. Almost immediately, his focus has turned to potential new signings and improving the squad.
"I can see Sean (Dyche) got in a great group of players with their attitude and commitment but we are desperately needing to add some quality in certain areas, mainly to create and craft goals and finish as well," he added. "We need to get those levels up."
Recent omens have been far from positive. Everton have just three wins in 20 games and have not found the net in nine of their last 11 matches. The only thing keeping them out of the relegation zone at this stage is the ineptitude of others.
Moyes beat Fulham in his first game as Everton manager in 2002, but never looked like repeating the trick here. Villa, relative equals during his previous spell at Goodison, are now light years ahead.
Unai Emery's side have a transfer balance of minus £240million over the last five years. Everton, over the same timeframe, have brought in nearly £30million more than they have spent. The two clubs have long operated in different markets and it shows.
Bridging that seismic gap will take time, money and patience. But Moyes is a realist and knows the first task is simply to keep a goal-shy Everton up.
To be sure of doing so, he will need to be backed in the market. That will surely not have escaped the attention of the sizeable delegation of representatives from new owners The Friedkin Group, including executive chairman Marc Watts and board member Ana Dunkel, who were at Goodison to witness Moyes' first game in charge.
The Scot has had just a couple of days to work with the new squad and has so far changed little in terms of selection or routine.
He was shown round Everton's training ground, Finch Farm on Sunday by director of football Kevin Thelwell after his appointment, and met staff, taking time to introduce himself to new faces. Saturday had involved video analysis of the group he was inheriting, with training taken by Leighton Baines, now promoted to his first-team staff following an internal recommendation.
After a whirlwind few days, Moyes took his first training session on Monday afternoon, preserving his predecessor's habit of starting later after returning from a day off. He also kept with Dyche's routine of travelling to midweek home games by coach, following a meeting at the team hotel.
The messaging has been upbeat, as has been the response from players, but there has been little opportunity to change much or work on new ideas on the training pitch.
One common school of thought among those with intricate knowledge of the side's struggles under Dyche was that a competent replacement, who spent proper time on coaching possession play and attacking patterns, would be able to induce a clear improvement in performance levels. But the new manager and his staff have so far had just a matter of days to work with the Everton squad.
Moyes admitted on Monday that he would need a period of time to properly understand everything about his new squad. Without that foundation, selection was reminiscent of Dyche's time, albeit with a few subtle tweaks both in terms of personnel and tactics.
Abdoulaye Doucoure again started as an ill-fitting but hard working No 10. Dominic Calvert-Lewin returned to the lineup after being challenged by his new manager to be the difference maker, but spurned a golden chance in injury time to equalise. Jack Harrison came in on the right wing. There has been an early emphasis on keeping the ball better and retaining possession, as well as getting more crosses into the box.
"It's just been a lot of information in a couple of days," defender James Tarkowski said. "It wasn't ideal to have a midweek game straight away but that's football. The manager has done as much as he can with us. We just have to get on the training pitch as much as possible to keep learning and understanding what he wants from us.
"I don't think he was planning on coming in and changing everything initially because the games are coming thick and fast. So he's just trying to give us with a little bit of guidance here and there without overloading us.
"We've tried to control the game a little bit more. We tried to be a bit calmer moving it around and not be so direct. But he still wants us to be progressive and get the ball forward, just not initially getting it forward too early if we can have that control round the back.
"Through time, I'm sure we'll morph into what he wants us to be."
There were some small signs of improvement from Everton, both in terms of their aggression higher up the pitch to force Villa mistakes and ability to create chances.
But Moyes' problem is that he inherits a squad low on quality and, by their own admission, confidence.
He will know now that there are few obvious answers in the attacking departments to fall back on. Solutions there have become even more urgent with the news that loanee Armando Broja has suffered ankle ligament damage and is expected to be out for between 10-12 weeks.
Given the timeframe, and the fact that the Albanian is currently occupying their final domestic loan space, there has already been talk that the deal with parent club Chelsea will be cancelled. That would free up valuable space for Everton, who are still having to be mindful of PSR in this window.
In the meantime, Moyes will have to work with what he has got and try to plot a way through. He insisted he was no "magician" after Wednesday's defeat, but is focusing on finding ways to get Everton into advantageous areas on a more regular basis.
"I have been here a couple of days," he said. "I can't make turn that around and make a huge difference in the time.
"We encouraged them to get more into the box and get people in the box more often -- get more shots, get more crosses. We obviously need to double those numbers.
"They have been great in training. We have been really surprised how good they have been.
"They are a really good group of lads. But they are looking for someone to give them a lift."