As the West Indies captain fine-tuned preparations for this country's first day-night Test match, starting at Edgbaston on Thursday, he acknowledged his team's status as "massive underdogs" but nonetheless targeted a series win as the minimum benchmark of success over the next month.
Should the tourists manage that over three Tests in England, it will be the first time they have done so in five attempts so far this century – a sequence which has seen them lose the last four series by a combined scoreline of 11-0.
West Indies did hold England to a 1-1 draw on home soil under Holder's captaincy in 2015, however.
That was an occasionally tetchy series, prefaced by England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Colin Graves' assessment of the hosts as "mediocre".
Two years on, asked if he can be nasty if necessary, all-rounder Holder maintained an urbane smile as he said: "I'll leave that to you to determine in this series."
He does not expect a repeat of the fractious atmosphere which prevailed in the Caribbean, but promised West Indies will meet the challenge head on again.
"I don't think there's anything to spark that," he said. "But we expect a good contest ... the English come pretty hard, and we expect to go back just as hard at them."
On all form, West Indies are up against it once more and they are 14/1 with Sky Bet to win the series, with England 1/16 and a drawn series 12/1.
"We're obviously huge underdogs," said paceman Holder, a 5/1 chance to be his side's leading series wicket-taker.
"(But) in our last series against Pakistan, I felt there was significant improvement.
"We've got guys who are showing signs of progress and signs they can compete here at Test level."
Holder's men have a marginal advantage over England in exposure to the vagaries of the pink ball under lights – albeit principally with the Kookaburra rather than the Dukes version, to be used this week, in a narrow Test defeat to Pakistan last October and in their domestic first-class competition.
The tourists also fared encouragingly – with four individual centuries, and a 90 – in last weekend's floodlit match against Derbyshire.
"We've got a bit of experience," said Holder.
"The guys really look forward to the pink-ball cricket - I think it's something we've really accepted.
"We've been playing it in the Caribbean for a number of years as well."
As for the opposition, Holder notes the potential fragility of a debutant opener and further uncertainty at numbers three and five – where new incumbents have yet to establish themselves.
"We can look at a number of areas you could probably target," he added.
"I think for us, it's mainly just to make it as uncomfortable as possible for their senior players ... and put some pressure on the junior guys who are coming in to make their mark."
The onus will therefore be on West Indies to deliver their own perceived strength – as a bowling attack – and hope their batsmen can remain competitive.
"Our bowling has really carried us throughout the last few Test matches," said Holder.
"It's just for our batsmen to make some runs. We've struggled in the past, primarily with our batting, but so far on this tour we've been doing really well.
"So I expect good things from the batters (as well)."
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