Everton boss Sean Dyche admits he can't be fully truthful with fans over their market work.
The Blues have struggled during the summer transfer window to strengthen Dyche's squad.
Ahead of Saturday's meeting with Wolves, he said: "Trying to get everything to align at the right level is the challenge. There's loads of people we've been linked with.
"I've always thought the best positives you can give is the truth, at the moment I can't give the full truth. I try to be truthful and tell the fans this is the reality, this is where we're at.
"I'm not more or less confident than when I got here.
"We're trying to create a team that can compete, not just individuals, creating that team mentality is the main factor.
"It's not been plain sailing at the club down the years, there's been many testing periods."