VIDEO: Carvalhal pleased as preparation pays off in Sheffield Wednesday's victory over Brentford
The Portuguese cut a content figure following his side's emphatic 4-0 win over Brentford at Hillsborough - their biggest win of the season and a result which took the Owls to fifth in the Championship.
Now, people are starting to talk about the top two and automatic promotion as a genuine ambition for Wednesday. For Carvalhal though, the calm demeanour prevails.
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Hide AdThe home side were given a helping hand when Gary Hooper was adjudged to have been brought down by Yoann Barbet as the Owls striker raced through on goal and the Bees defender was given a red card after just five minutes.
Fernando Forestieri opened the scoring shortly after that and from then on there seemed like being only one winner.
Hooper doubled the lead and Kieran Lee made it three before half time and then substitute Lucas Joao put the cap on a fine display with the fourth near the end.
And though pleased, Carvalhal is staying grounded, preferring to focus his pleasure on the hard work on the training ground transferring to the pitch.
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Hide Ad"Even though they were down to 10 men, we prepared very well, explored our spaces, moved the ball and changed the speed," he said.
"More important to me was the transition, the way we worked when we lost the ball. We were organised enough not to give Brentford opportunities."
On potentially revising ambitions for the remainder of the season he added: "My consideration is the same as the beginning. We are outsiders in this competition. We have a new coach, 15 or 16 new players.
"We are not the favourites. We don't want to lose focus. The position (fifth) is not important if we don't win the next game.
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Hide Ad"For me, the most important thing is the team. Everything will be good if you win the next match. Everything around this, records, best player, best coach and so on, is artificial.
"Preston is the most important. We know it will be a tough game. We must be ready for a really really tough game.
"The position? Let's see in May."