Hansi Flick admits he is fighting for his future at Bayern Munich as he battles to make a case to stay in charge of the first team.
Bayern's interim head coach, appointed after Nico Kovac departed in November, may be in the frame to stay at the helm until the end of the season.
Several leading coaches are expected to be available, or more easily prised away from their current teams.
And if Flick can prove himself a safe pair of hands, that could be helpful for Bayern as they plan for the long term under a new boss – with Flick potentially a candidate if he can deliver trophies.
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After starting with four impressive wins, Bayern heads into Wednesday's Champions League final group game against Tottenham on the back of two straight Bundesliga defeats.
Those losses, to Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Monchengladbach, have come despite strong performances from Bayern, which has four games remaining before the Bundesliga's mid-season break.
Yet Flick knows results are all-important, and he said: "Of course, if I want to stay on then I have to win the next couple of games. But I want to win those four games one way or another.
"There are four games left; anything is possible. We're going to sit down with the officials after the Wolfsburg game ... after the last game [before Christmas]."
Flick said the 2-1 defeat to Gladbach on Saturday was "really, really annoying", with Bayern gifting a late penalty, yet he is looking to stay level-headed.
"I didn't run laps around the stadium and across the pitch after the first four wins, so I'm not going to go crazy now," Flick said at a news conference.
"The team has fantastic quality and we want to keep showing that, and then of course score goals as well."
Star striker Robert Lewandowski has not netted in the last two games, after a four-goal haul against Red Star Belgrade in a 6-0 Champions League away win.
"We have plenty of players who can score, and players who have to step up and should step up and take responsibility," Flick said.
"Of course he's an important player for us, but I don't think we're totally dependent on his goals that would be too easy."
That message was echoed by forward Thomas Muller, who said Bayern is eager to make it six wins from six in the group stage. Both it and Tottenham are assured of places in the last-16, with Bayern sure to win Group B.
"We want to recapture the feeling of winning so we can reap the reward for all the hard work we are putting in, and the hard work we did put in in the past two games despite the defeats," Muller said.
"I think we can all agree the performances were pretty decent in the last two games that we lost. We need the reward now and we want to take the confidence into the Bundesliga."
Muller recognised the importance of Lewandowski's prolific contribution this season. The Polish striker needs two goals against Spurs, which is now being led by Jose Mourinho, to claim the record for the most goals in the group stage of a single campaign – currently held by Cristiano Ronaldo after his haul of 11 in 2015-16 for Real Madrid.
"The fact we need his goals is clear," Muller said. "He will keep scoring goals. He has huge quality.
"Of course, we would benefit from more options, more potential scorers, more people who can score, who want to score, who regularly score, and so that's a challenge for the other attacking players, including me.
"We have to step up and take responsibility."
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