Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas says he is a "very negative person", despite the unprecedented success he has enjoyed since becoming a manager.
Villas-Boas has made a prodigious impact in the game in the past two years, emerging from the shadow of former mentor Jose Mourinho to transform the fortunes of Academica and win a remarkable quadruple with Porto before being headhunted by Chelsea this summer.
The past eight days have seen Villas-Boas celebrate three major milestones which highlight just how quickly his star has risen - the second anniversary of his first club job, his 34th birthday, and his 100th game as a manager.
But despite having won so much, so young, the Portuguese has revealed he lacks self-belief and is forever fretting about the prospect of defeat.
"I'm a very negative person," he said.
"It's just a way of being. Everyone reacts differently to competition. That's the way I react.
"Before any competition, everyone is stressed in a different way.
"You have to think about all the perspectives: winning, losing or drawing. I think through them and the effect they'll have.
"'Normal' people think about winning.
"I don't go pessimistic, but I go through every one. I like to be ready. That's the way I am."
Defeat has been a rare experience for Villas-Boas, who went an incredible 17 months without losing a league game until last month's Premier League loss at Manchester United.
His start to life at Stamford Bridge has been otherwise largely blemish-free but it is no surprise that the United result is the first thing to come to mind when he considers the highs and lows of his first four months in charge.
"We wanted to win the Old Trafford game, which we didn't," said Villas-Boas, whose side have bounced back to cut the gap to the champions from five points to one in the past month.
Victory at QPR on Sunday will see them leapfrog Sir Alex Ferguson's men into second place, providing United do not win the Manchester derby earlier that day.
"We want to continue to compete to try and overtake them as soon as possible," Villas-Boas said.
"We have to get on with it. We just want to be top at the end of the season."
Chelsea took full advantage of United's draw at Liverpool last Saturday by beating bogey side Everton.
Villas-Boas added: "We have to keep winning and wait for something like last weekend.
"Everybody is chasing - Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham - so we just have to continue to win."
With a gap beginning to open up between the top three and the rest, some have written off the title challenges of the chasing pack.
But Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech concurred with his manager's assessment.
"Everybody's talking about the two Manchester teams and us," he said.
"But I think you can't forget Liverpool, you can't forget the others because this is a tough league and there's a long way to go.
"So let's see another set of 10-15 games. After Christmas, we can speak about this again."
United and City's sensational starts to the season have meant Chelsea have been more under the radar than they are used to.
Cech added: "We are focused on our jobs, our training, our work.
"People can talk about Manchester or the other teams.
"Even if you're in the spotlight and everyone's talking about you, your main target is to keep your feet on the ground, to work well, to improve and to do your job.
"I think that's what we've been doing so far and you can see we are in a good position in the league and a very good position in the Champions League.
"So far, it's been very good for us."
