Melbourne Victory’s James Troisi would sacrifice his impressive scoring form if it would guarantee a win for his side in Saturday night’s Melbourne Derby.
Troisi returned to Victory in August with a reputation as a marksman, the versatile forward having struck 15 times in his previous stint at the club in 2013/14.
It took the 28-year-old nine Hyundai A-League matches to open his account this season but Troisi says part of the reason was a change in responsibilities, with Victory head coach Kevin Muscat utilising the Australia international as his chief playmaker in 2016/17.
Since breaking his duck against Newcastle Jets in Victory’s first match of 2017, Troisi has scored four goals in six games but would happily not score again this season if it meant his team got back to winning ways.
Victory has lost three straight games heading into this week’s Derby against City at Etihad Stadium.
“You get one (goal) and two and the rest start to come,” Troisi said on Thursday when asked what had changed for him in front of goal.
“It’s always more special when you’re scoring goals but it’s not like I was missing sitters. I didn’t really have many opportunities, and now the ball’s falling at my feet and I’m putting it in the back of the net.
“I find my role here this time at Victory a little bit different. I’m creating a lot more chances for the boys, which as a number 10 is all you have to do.
“If I can score then it’s fantastic, but the most important thing is that we’re picking up points.”
Troisi is confident Victory can turn its form around in February following losses to Perth Glory and Sydney FC to end last month.
“It was a pretty difficult couple of weeks. We’ve had a normal week coming into this game on Saturday, so we’re looking forward to it,” he said.
“I think the most important thing is the football we’ve been playing the last two games. We definitely should have got points out of those games, so we’re playing some good football and we’re in a good way at the moment.
“So we’re looking to rectify, I guess, the points we haven’t picked up.”
Tickets for Saturday night’s Derby at Etihad Stadium are available here.
