Brett Holman does not look happy and understandably so.
Hidden away behind a baseball cap and jacket backstage at Al Jazira’s Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, he has just seen his latest comeback from another bothersome knock end in a 4-0 thrashing by the hosts.
For the experienced midfielder, happier times were only seven months ago.
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Holman led Al Nasr as skipper to President’s Cup and Arabian Gulf Cup-success last term. With his contract rapidly-expiring in Dubai, an invigorating challenge emerged as Emirates Club took advantage to snap up the 31-year-old on a one-year deal.
Mixed fortunes have occurred since. Niggling injuries have restricted the 63-times-capped Australia international to six Arabian Gulf League starts, while his new team have dropped to 11th after a dramatic decline in results.
But for Holman, the only way is up as he looks to leave his imprint on a “fantastic” club.
“Personally, I have been disappointed as I have not played enough,” the former Aston Villa and AZ Alkmaar star reflected. “They have been just crazy accidental injuries, where you think how is that possible?
“Looking back, you start doubting yourself and think what is happening? In the rest of my career, I’ve had little knocks here and there where you miss a game or two.
“But I’ve had nothing like this in my whole career. What is going on? I’ve hit 30 and it’s all gone downhill.
“Look, I am working hard. The team hasn’t got a great atmosphere at the moment as we are not winning games.
“But the club has been fantastic and the players are great. I knew a few of them before I came here, which was helpful.
“The city is great and I cannot complain at all.”
The comeback trail for club and player does not get any easier. Champions Al Ain come to Ras Al Khaimah tomorrow, a buoyant side on the back of a four-match winning streak which includes back-to-back 3-0 dismantlings of title rivals Al Nasr and Al Ahli.
Despite Emirates being in a downward spiral, Holman rem-ained hopeful of a surprise.
He said: “My main focus is to come into a season and gradually get into it. I haven’t had that energy.
“I had a pre-season where I worked hard. But I have lost that and I have to work hard. Hopefully, I can show what I was doing in the last few years in the UAE.
“I want to get back to some good footy and hopefully, we can start winning some games as well.”
Coach Paulo Comelli led the Falcons to an on-par, 10th finish in 2014-15. The club’s hierarchy then showed ambition in the summer to improve their standing.
Holman plus Nasr team-mates Renan Garcia and Helal Saeed led the list of arrivals, which also included Brazilian forward Rodrigo Pimpao and bulky Colombian centre forward Wilmar Jordan.
A strong October and November which featured four wins from eight fixtures in all competitions saw them hovering above the Asian qualification spots in the league and put them in the mix for an Arabian Gulf Cup semi-final spot.
But this hot streak has turned cold, the weekend beating by managerless Jazira making it five defeats on the bounce.
“We are in a good little hole at the moment, which we need to get ourselves out of,” said Holman. “The only positive for me was coming back after a little injury.
“We didn’t make them (Al Jazira) earn it enough. That is something we have to do – we cannot do it just on quality football.
“We have to grind out results. We showed that when we won three in a row (in the AGL) – we have to get back to that.”
