Slaven Bilic has dismissed any notion that Michail Antonio has been withdrawn from Saturday’s game against Liverpool due to his mistake against Crystal Palace last weekend.
The forward, who gave away the ball with seconds to go at Selhurst Park allowing their hosts to break and equalised, picked up a training injury on Monday while preparing for the visit of Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Having had a torrid time of it with injuries in the last year, it is no surprise that Antonio has faced another setback, though there were questions as to whether or not he was withdrawn simply to ease the pressure after such an error.
Bilic was quick to refute the suggestions, and revealed that Antonio called him to apologise for his ‘moment of madness’.
“Antonio is not one of those that you will take out of the firing line,” Bilic said.
“He is brave and he was the first one who said [it was his fault] in the dressing room after the game and he called me.
“It hurt him, there is not one of them that doesn’t care. You see on him that he cares, but no he wanted, he couldn’t wait for the game against Liverpool but unfortunately it happened [the injury].”
“Nobody blamed him from the club, I said straight away in the dressing room when you are hot and hyped and frustrated I said: ‘Yeah, of course, but guys it is not only him, four of you were in the position’ where he thought ‘Oh my god, I should cross the ball’ because that is a great opportunity for us.
“I spoke to Mikey [Antonio], he said ‘sorry for my moment of madness’.
“I was there and I told him ‘Mikey you knew, especially you, that it is ten seconds to go’ and he said ‘Of course I knew because from 85th minute I was doing that.”
