Slaven Bilic said that Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace ‘felt like a defeat’ after West Ham surrendered a two goal lead to leave Selhurst Park with just the one point.
Goals from Chicharito and Andre Ayew had given the Hammers a 2-0 lead at half-time, however Luka Milivojevic’s penalty five minutes after the restart and Wilfried Zaha’s 96th minute strike levelled things up in South London.
“We are very disappointed, it feels like a defeat” the Hammers boss explained.
“We are gutted because we were winning 2-0 and of course the game isn’t over but we were in a great position. They put us under a lot of pressure in the second half, but the game was there for us.”
West Ham had controlled much of the game in the first 45’ and the scoreline at halfway reflected it, but the second period belonged to the hosts. Palace clawed one back just five minutes in to the second half and clearly took confidence from that in to the rest of the game.
“Things were very good for us, we knew we had 45 minutes to play where they were going to take more risks and play more direct so we wanted to keep our shape but also explore the space that would leave behind – unfortunately we didn’t do it” Bilic said.
To concede a goal in the last second, in that way when we have the ball high up the pitch, we are gutted
Slaven Bilic
“I am very disappointed with the penalty, it came too early for us but to concede the second in this manner it makes it even harder to take.”
The equaliser came in the last of six additional minutes. When Michail Antonio lost the ball high up the field, the hosts quickly moved it back towards the West Ham penalty area where Wilfried Zaha was on hand to slot it in the bottom corner.
“To concede a goal in the last second, in that way when we have the ball high up the pitch, we are gutted.” Bilic said.
“It was a good goal well taken by Zaha but to be fair, we gave it to them. With five or ten seconds to go, we were in a position where all we had to do was to keep the ball and we made the wrong decision.
“All we had to do is keep a hold of the ball but we made a few bad decisions in the last two minutes. Those couple of decisions were very naïve, but these things happen.
“The point is not bad, but not right now. It feels like defeat.”