Just two points from a trio of clashes against Japan, Saudi Arabia and most worryingly China, has placed Arnold under the microscope, prompting ex-Socceroos goalkeeper turned pundit Mark Bosnich to demand greater flexibility and tactical fluidity from Arnold to resuscitate Australia’s Qatar 2022 hopes.

Without belittling ongoing debates over nuanced tinkering and tweaking of his game plans, the reality is Arnold is a hostage to the innate quality and the match-hardened, or otherwise, attributes of his players.

A cursory look at where they're drawn from reveals a squad largely playing their club football in mid-level leagues or starved of the match minutes required to necessarily flourish on the international stage. Sometimes it’s a case of both.

A parallel issue for Arnold is that he has been, in a sense, a victim of his own success in masterminding a world record 11-match winning run which sent expectations soaring.

Qualification for Qatar was looking, to many, like a formality. Suddenly, though, with Australia slipping to third in Group A behind Japan and Saudi Arabia, reality has hit like a bad hangover.

To browse through some of the current frontline names on whom Australia’s prospects rest is instructive.

Mat Ryan - for all his undoubted pedigree - has made five appearances in all competitions since joining Real Sociedad in July; Fran Karacic has featured twice for Serie B Brescia this season; Rhyan Grant has been toiling at Sydney FC, Trent Sainsbury is with middling Belgium outfit KV Kortrijk; Milos Degenek has been featuring off the bench for Red Star Belgrade, Aziz Behich’s Giresunspor are locked in a relegation battle in Turkey and likewise Callum Elder’s Hull City in the Championship.

Further up the field Jackson Irvine is plying his trade in Germany’s 2. Bundesliga, albeit at a St Pauli side pushing hard to go up to the top flight as champions, whilst Jimmy Jeggo’s Aris are bouncing around mid table in the Greek Super League.

Mathew Leckie is toying with a new position after swapping the Bundesliga for Melbourne City whilst Awer Mabil, beset with contract issues, has dropped down the pecking order at Danish Superliga leaders Midtylland. 

Playmaker Ajdin Hrustic has been frozen out by Eintracht Frankfurt after a promising start to the Bundesliga season whilst Mitch Duke finds himself in Japan’s J2 and Martin Boyle in Scotland with Hibernian.

Other mitigating factors for Arnold are the ACL injury suffered by key defender Harry Souttar, whilst the recent form of Celtic’s Tom Rogic and a bright start to the Chinese Super League season by Aaron Mooy offer slithers of optimism ahead of the make-or-break qualifiers against Vietnam in Melbourne in January 27 and the visit to Oman five days later.

The rapid recovery of target man Adam Taggart following knee surgery is also a timely boost.

For all his upbeat public utterances, Arnold continues to cast the net wide, as evidenced by his desire to cap young AS Roma winger Cristian Volpato after just two Serie A minutes for Jose Mourinho’s side.

If he’s looking to further refresh and possibly galvanize a squad searching for lost momentum, he might do worse than to call up former Olyroos prospect Jacob Italiano who has been catching the eye with Borussia Monchengladbach’s second team.

Brentford B attacker Lachlan Brook, another ex-Olyroo, might also be worth taking a punt on in the New Year along with gifted Adelaide United striker Kusini Yengi.

Whatever permutations and grand designs Arnold might be pondering as he seeks to avoid the lottery of qualification playoffs, success is always contingent on sum of the parts at his disposal, no matter how grandiose the expectations of those praying for a fifth successive World Cup appearance for the green and gold.