Walter Mazzarri believes "impatience" could cost him his job as Inter Milan coach after another disappointing display from his side saw them held to a 2-2 draw at home to Hellas Verona on Sunday evening.
The result saw Inter fall five points behind the top three, and although former Reggina, Sampdoria and Napoli coach Mazzarri remains optimistic, he admits that boardroom patience could wear thin.
"What is said between myself, the president and the club management remains between us, but things really are going against us at the moment," he told a news conference. "I'm still optimistic, but then if somebody happens to be impatient..."
That last remark was a reference to club president Erick Thohir, who left the San Siro without making any comment on Sunday.
Prior to the game, he had given an interview to La Repubblica in which he again affirmed his backing for Mazzarri.
"I've never given him an ultimatum, even if I sometimes read that I have," he said. "In fact, I think it's now been six or seven times that I've had to say the same thing and I'm going to do it again now.
"I believe in the project we have launched with Mazzarri, and he can rest assured [of his future]. We know that time is needed to develop our plan, but at the same time we do need to get results.
"We would just discuss things like we always do [if the bad results continue]. Right now, we're suffering from the many injuries we've got, but we have a good squad."
That squad has been built up over Thohir's first full year as president -- 365 days he looked back on positively.
"It's been fantastic," he said. "We got back into Europe, which was our objective, and we're at the top of our [Europa League] group and only need a point to go through.
"Off the field, we've renewed all of the management with some top professionals arriving, and we've got more improvements to make too."
Those improvements will be geared at getting Inter back into the Champions League.
After the international break, they face tough tests against city rivals AC Milan, Roma and Udinese, a one point and a place above them in eighth.