Slaven Bilic reflected that Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace felt like a defeat after West Ham squandered a two goal lead to take just a point from the game.
First-half goals from Javier Hernandez and a stunning solo goal from Andre Ayew put The Hammers two goals to the good, with the away side dominating in all areas of the pitch and showing confidence after their success in the Carabao Cup. However, a clumsy challenge in the second period saw Luka Milivojevic convert from the spot to half the deficit before a 96th minute strike from Wilfried Zaha completed the comeback.
Bilic reflects on two points lost for his side
“We are very disappointed, it feels like a defeat,” said Bilic. “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.”
“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 continued.
“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.”
Poor decision making costs Hammers at the death
Michail Antonio was chasing the ball down the right-hand side, deep into the Palace third before his aimless cross was easily collected and distributed out by the Palace keeper. Such poor decision making, coupled with a lack of desire to get back and help in the defensive third, allowed Palace to expose the clear gaps in the West Ham defence and take a point.
“To concede a goal in the last second, in that way when we have the ball high up the pitch, we are gutted.”
“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,” Bilic concluded.