Big tally not Ola’s priority
DESPITE his red-hot start to life in the A-League, Ola Toivonen has warned Melbourne Victory fans not to expect more of the same for the rest of the campaign.
The Swedish international missed the opening three weeks with a calf injury before assisting within minutes of his substitute introduction in Round 4.
Finally unleashed on the weekend, he scored with a deflected effort as Victory took their first regular-season win away to Sydney FC since 2015. That’s a hit-rate of one goal and one assist within 78 minutes.
And it’s unsustainable according to the 32-yearold. “I’m not a 25-goal scoring guy,” he said.
Toivonen’s most profitable campaign came in 2011-12 with Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, the current home of Socceroos Trent Sainsbury and Aziz Behich. He netted 26 goals in the Eredivisie, Dutch Cup and Europa League but, true to his description, hasn’t been so free-scoring since.
Despite netting against Germany at the World Cup, he entered that tournament off the back of a zero-goal campaign for French club Toulouse.
It’s been five years since he even reached double figures for a season but that doesn’t bother him, so long as goals are going in.
“I never set any goals for how many I’m going to do in a season. That doesn’t inter- est me,” he said. “I know as well that I’m going to create spaces for the others in the team. Maybe I’m going to drag two players on me and that’s the space for other players to fill.”
Toivonen was deployed as a sole striker for much of the game, but coach Kevin Muscat’s new system suggests he’ll be paired with Kosta Barbarouses in weeks to come.