After just one calamitous Premier League match, Frank Lampard knows the size of the challenge ahead of him.
And within that challenge, Lampard will face a crucial test of his defensive credentials.
Because the bottom line is that if Everton regularly defend as badly as they did on Tyneside on Tuesday night, there is every chance they will be relegated.
At Derby County and Chelsea, Lampard - albeit in relatively short regimes - built a reputation for playing attractive, attacking football.
It was unsurprising he sanctioned the Everton moves for Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli.
But, generally, survival is based on making yourselves hard to beat - and conceding three to a team that had previously averaged one goal a game was not the best start.
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Of course, it had become a problem long before Lampard arrived.
Over their last 13 Premier League fixtures, Everton have conceded an average of 2.3 goals per game.
Watford have played 22 Premier League matches and scored 22 percent of their goals in one game against Everton.
Newcastle United and Crystal Palace have hit three against Everton and it is fair to say the home side should have had a couple more on Tuesday.
Defensively, Everton were a shambles.
There were issues all over the pitch but the disarray at the back was the starkest issue.
The early departure of Yerry Mina did not help but was hardly a surprise.
But whatever the personnel, Lampard has to come up with a system that works better than the one used at Newcastle.
And on the basis of his time at Chelsea, that will be a sizeable challenge.
In his one full season as manager at Stamford Bridge, Lampard managed a fourth-placed finish but his Chelsea team conceded 54 goals, more than any other side in the top half of the table.
That improved in his final six months, coinciding with the arrival of Edouard Mendy.
Lampard will be hoping Jordan Pickford can maintain some consistency throughout the run-in and will be banking on Ashley Cole having a decisive impact on the training ground.
The return of Ben Godfrey - out until next month with a hamstring problem - will help and Lampard will hope Mina’s latest setback is not too serious.
That Mina and Demarai Gray had to leave the field inside thirty-five minutes was typical of Everton’s luckless season.
Lampard would hope he has plenty of back-up for Gray but while it would be ludicrous to judge on the basis of little more than an hour’s action, the Everton manager will also have a tough job trying to inspire Dele to recapture his vintage form.
But that will not be Lampard’s biggest concern as he prepares for his first Premier League game at Goodison Park and the visit of Leeds United on Saturday.
His biggest concern will be stopping others doing what Newcastle United did to a defence that fell apart.
