He's a man of few words, Melbourne Victory's Swedish striker Ola Toivonen.
Well, at least in public.
Victory's Ola Toivonen has had limited time so far this season.Credit:AAP
It must be said, however, that the beanpole frontman hasn't had a lot to talk about since arriving in Australia in the early spring after starring for World Cup quarter-finalists Sweden in Russia.
It's not for the want of trying, but injury and bad luck have combined to restrict him to one short second-half cameo appearance for the champions.
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It's hardly the start that the lanky striker would have wanted, but he is phlegmatic about things.
So clipped and precise are his answers that Toivonen, whose height, fair hair and blue eyes make him the archetypal Swede from central casting, leaves little doubt that he is not interested in making small talk about what might have been.
He is more interested in speculating on what he might offer Victory in the remaining six months of the season, assuming they go deep into the finals in defence of the title they won in controversial circumstances in Newcastle in May.
"I think I am properly fit now, " he said, ahead of Victory's trip to Sydney on Sunday for the first Big Blue of the season.
It promises to be an epic encounter given the tumultuous game between the two sides in April in an A-League semi final which will forever be remembered as the Terry Antonis game.
"I am feeling good, I am feeling sharp. I haven't played so many games with my teammates but I have been training a lot with them and I am doing better."
Toivonen tore his calf muscle at the most frustrating time, in the days leading up to the kick-off in the new season.
"It was just before the game with Melbourne City in the first week. I have only been able to play when I came off the bench against Central Coast," he said.
"Of course it was a big relief. I have been waiting to play since the first day I came so it was nice to be back on the pitch."
Training in such a public environment as Gosch's Paddock is something which most foreigners find strange, and Toivonen is no exception.
"It's a little bit different, but you can't complain about the quality of the pitch. The quality of the pitch is very good, and that's the most important thing."
With his height, Toivonen, who got on the scoresheet in the World Cup in Sweden's game against Germany, looks like a natural centre forward.
But his versatility was one of the things that Victory coach Kevin Muscat liked about him.
"I am comfortable to play every position up front, whatever the gaffer decides. The more minutes I get in my legs the better for me, so let's see what the gaffer decides."
He says has not been overly challenged by the standard of the A-League just yet, but acknowledges that he has not had that much exposure to it.
"I haven't played so much, what have I played, 10 minutes against the Central Coast, then two friendlies against Adelaide and Wellington."
It is frustrating, he said, that most opponents play defensively against Victory.
"We keep possession of the ball for most of the game, the opposition is just waiting to get a shot to take the ball and go to the counter. Because we always have possession of the ball, that's our problem for a moment to try to find the space to score."
He doesn't accept that because Victory happen to be the champions most teams will drop off and defend.
"Just because you are the champions it doesn't mean you are going to have the ball all the time, look at Leicester when they won the championship – they didn't have the ball most of the time.
"It doesn't go without saying that because you are the champions you are the better team, but for me I think we are the best team in the moment in the league."
Toivonen is pretty laid-back about the threat that Sydney might offer and he confessed, in the lead-up during the week, that he hadn't really studied the opposition – yet.
"It's more that I haven't watched any football since I came here," Toivonen said.
With a young family, plenty to see and do in a new country and the challenges of settling in, he has other priorities.
"I have other things to do in life for the moment rather than watch football. It's been like that for a little while, the last couple of years I have been cooling down a little bit from watching football on the TV."
Michael Lynch, The Age's expert on soccer, has had extensive experience of high level journalism in the UK and Australia. Michael has covered the Socceroos through Asia, Europe and South America in their past three World Cup campaigns. He has also reported on Grands Prix and top class motor sport from Asia and Europe. He has won several national media awards for both sports and industry journalism.
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