Huddersfield Town have failed to score in three of their past five matches
Radinio Balker, Huddersfield Town’s defender, believes his side needs to “create bigger chances” following Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Reading.
The stalemate marked Town’s third goalless draw in five games, following 1-0 losses at home to Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City.
With Saturday’s tie, Town ended a three-game losing streak. Balker felt that the outcome was a step forward for his team. However, the defender admitted that the quality of opportunities created by his squad might be improved.
Balker told HTTV that the argument made on Saturday was “a little frustrating.” As a defender, I was responsible for maintaining a clean sheet, which we accomplished successfully.I believe we got off to a good start and began playing briefly. It’s a positive start; after three losses, you want to find something to work with, and I believe the first 20 minutes provided that, and maybe we can keep creating more opportunities. Of course, we have some opportunities, but I believe we can expand them beyond what they are now.
“I come from Holland, so it’s a little more 4-3-3 (the formation they play), but today it was 4-2-3-1, which was fine. We began playing a little more.
“When you play with four, you have an extra man up the pitch, rather than being in the back five or three, and I believe that makes a great difference. It’s a good start for us; ideally, we can now develop the bigger opportunities that I said.
“Of course, you wanted to win, so that would have been ideal. As a defender, you want to keep a clean sheet, and that’s exactly what we did. Of sure, we should have defended better at times; they didn’t produce the most opportunities, but sometimes you want to stop them before they get the smaller ones. That’s something we’ll look into, and we can just work with it.
“This time, I believe the disappointment is different. Of course, we were disappointed that we did not win, but we knew we could have. The last several times, it seemed like we were dissatisfied that we also played poorly, or at least not well, and that we were losing, or that we did not win.
“Of course it can still be better and has to be better (the performance), because in the second half we saw a few moments where they took a little bit more of the ball, where we were a little bit more sloppy like we have been in the past, which we just need to improve on, but at the end we did better than before, so that’s something that we’re going to work with.”
Balker played the entire 90 minutes in Saturday’s tie, which was his first time doing so since March of last year. Since returning from his long-term ankle injury, the centre-back has started three games and appeared as a substitute three times. The 26-year-old remarked, “Of course, over time, you become more comfortable.
“This was my first 90 in 11 months. I was exhausted at the end, but it’s wonderful that I played 90 minutes, and I’m sure I’ll improve over time and rediscover myself again.”
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