Mauricio Pochettino is a man in the eye of a cyclone, a man whose employers shimmer on the surface but have fault lines running deep within.
He allowed a smile at Chelsea's Premier League Summer Series trophy presentation ... for five seconds. After Thiago Silva and Reece James bumbled past to lift a meaningless trinket, his face turned to stone. He knows the coming weeks will define Chelsea's season and his future in one of football's most precarious jobs.
In pure footballing terms, the Blues have had a good pre-season. Four wins and a draw.