Holman hopes to spark Socceroos

Precariously placed in the group with just two points from three matches going into the clash with 80th-ranked Iraq, the Socceroos are determined to rediscover their attacking flair and Holman looms as a key figure in that plan.

The attacking midfielder has made a flying start to his English Premier League career at Aston Villa this season, quickly establishing himself as a fan favourite.

He said he was ready to carry that form into the Al Arabi Stadium encounter against a Iraq team which was smashed 6-0 by Brazil in a friendly in Sweden last week.

"I feel good. I feel as fit as ever, especially in English football where you're doing a lot of kilometres," Holman said.

"I'm feeling good and hopefully I can do some damage on Tuesday night."

Holman said coach Holger Osieck has told the Socceroos to return to the attacking ways that served the team well early on in his tenure.

Australia only lost two of its first 21 matches under the German, with his more positive game plan viewed as a breath of fresh air after Pim Verbeek's reign.

The Socceroos reached the 2011 Asian Cup final and defeated powerhouse Germany in a friendly in Monchengladbach in Osieck's first seven months in charge.

But they have been very ordinary in recent times, the only win in the past six matches coming in a friendly against 109th-ranked Lebanon in Beirut.

"He (Osieck) wants to get back to when he first took over (in September 2010) and to get back to that attacking football and those combinations," Holman said.

"He wants to get back to the way things were.

"I think if you look at the last few games, we haven't done that at all.

"The games in Oman, against Japan, showed how tough we were and how determined we were to grind it out, but the football wasn't great either.

"Obviously (the 3-1 loss to) Scotland was crap.

"Lebanon was decent but that's an average nation and then we went to Jordan and didn't look good at all.

"The last few games we haven't played great football.

"That's what he's been able to address."

Holman, who missed qualifiers against Oman and Japan in June after the birth of his child, felt the team had not quite gelled to date.

"It doesn't help when there's so many squads that we're playing with," he said.

"It's hard to chop and change, when players are in and out."

The temperature is expected to hover in the mid 30s for Tuesday's kick-off at 5.15pm local time (Wednesday morning AEDT).

To reach the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, third-placed Australia must finish in the top two of the group or face the task of defeating another Asian team and the fifth-placed South American outfit.