Saturday night's upset 54-point loss to Port Adelaide drew stinging criticism and while Ratten still believes he has the makings of a top-four side, with a crucial clash against Geelong looming, his focus is more immediate.
"No not all, but things have changed," Ratten replied when asked if he regretted his bold prediction.
"The landscape's changed a bit, we have to adjust to that, we don't shy away from the expectation, but that's been removed and put down the back because we've got a lot of work to do to restore confidence, form and a fair bit of that belief.
"We think we can do it, but we've got to take the shackles off.
"I think we've got to really get our backyard in order before we worry about those things, that will take care of itself, we've just got to get it done right here and right now really quickly."
Ratten feels his players have retreated into their shells over the past month as injuries have mounted and confidence has been eroded, creating a snowball effect detrimental to the team's form.
The coach will try to relieve that pressure by simplifying his message to his players.
"We'll give you positions roughly, but let's go and play," he said.
"I think we need, as a group, to play a lot more bolder football and if we make a few blues we make a few blues, but we need to start to change the cycle of the way it's going at the moment."
Ratten has borne the brunt of recent criticism, and his own position questioned in some quarters, with Eddie McGuire's comments about Mick Malthouse's suitability for the Carlton coaching job adding fuel to the fire.
Ratten dismissed such criticism as part of the job, but there was a hint of sarcasm in his response to questions about McGuire's comments.
"Eddie was taken out of context, didn't he say?" he replied.
"He said that so he must have been. Most of those comments are taken out of context aren't they?
"Eddie wouldn't go down that avenue would he?"
Carlton's lengthy injury list has been a factor in the team's recent slide, with the club's tall players the worst hit. However, Ratten can still see the lighter side of the issue.
"I wouldn't like to be at 190cm-plus at our football club at the moment," he said.
"The other day when we were in Adelaide we made sure that the tall blokes didn't cross the road without the green man at the lights."
That crisis looks set to ease slightly with Matthew Kreuzer (hamstring), Lachie Henderson (groin) and Nick Duigan (calf) strong chances to return to the line-up against the Cats on Friday night.
But Jarrad Waite is no closer to returning from a mystery back injury that has sidelined him since round seven.
"It's a back, it's stiff and it hasn't recovered," Ratten said.
"He's walking around very ginger and he's not ready to play AFL footy. It might just click and we've got him back next week, but it might take another three or four weeks. I'm not sure and we can't put a finger on it at the moment.
"We're working through things behind the scenes and sending him off here and trialling things, but it could linger for a bit longer than we'd like.
"He's not running at the moment and he's ... losing fitness.
"We're not sure when he'll be back at AFL level. He might need two or three weeks at VFL level to get himself right or he might need a week ... but I can't tell you when he's going to play at VFL level yet.''
