Melbourne Victory coach Arthur Diles has turned up the heat on underperforming striker Nikos Vergos amid the club's stuttering start to the A-League Men season.
Victory (one win, one draw, two losses) have scored four goals from their opening four fixtures, including suffering a 2-0 defeat to arch-rivals Melbourne City on Saturday night.
Vergos hasn't scored in Victory's past 12 competitive fixtures, dating back to last April.
Last season, the 29-year-old had Bruno Fornaroli for competition but after Victory chose not to re-sign the veteran striker, Vergos is the clear first-choice ahead of back-up Jing Reec.
Vergos notched just one shot on Saturday and Victory looked more lively with Reec up top late.
"If it's frustrating for him, it's even more frustrating for me," Diles said of his out-of-sorts striker.
"In the end, anyone who plays up top there has got a job to do.
"First and foremost, they've got to work hard, and he does that. And then you've got to be in positions where you can ultimately influence the match. And so far, it's not happening. But he's working really hard.
"He's got pressure on him as well. We'll see what happens in the next match."
Diles was buoyed by the "influential" Juan Mata's best A-League performance - his first 90 minutes in Australia, exactly three years on from his last full game: a Turkish Cup game for Galatasaray in 2022.
"He'll only get better. He was great tonight," Diles said.
After the international break, Diles expects Nishan Velupillay (hamstring) and Louis D'Arrigo to return while Reno Piscopo, Franco Lino and Brendan Hamill have longer-term injuries.
City, meanwhile, will further delve into their deepening injury crisis after Nathaniel Atkinson became their sixth hamstring injury victim.
He will have scans and joins Aziz Behich, Mathew Leckie, Elbasan Rashani, Medin Memeti and Samuel Souprayen on the sidelines.
Coach Aurelio Vidmar conceded it was hard to pinpoint the reason for injuries given City's travel, age profile and tight schedule.
"Hamstring number six. Yep," Vidmar said.
"So he said he didn't feel anything major, but he felt something early after five or 10 minutes. And then he said it disappeared. And then when he stopped and tried to take off again, he felt something.
"So it's driving me crazy at the moment. So back to the drawing board and let's see where it all goes.
"I'm going to have to (deep dive). We're diving, but we're holding our breath.
"I'll leave that to the high performance guys. That's their area. And they've got to have a really, really good look."
Vidmar expects to regain Behich and Memeti after the break, while City pair Patrick Beach and Kai Trewin will go away with the Socceroos for games against Venezuela and Colombia.
