Slaven Bilic column: I know the stats but my West Ham players are fit enough

There is no denying the 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace felt like a defeat, such was the way we conceded that late goal.

The inevitable criticism followed and my position was again in the spotlight. I understand the way it works these days and I admit we are not in a great position. I also understand that, should things go against us when we play Liverpool, there will be more of the same.

All that is out of my control, though, and has not affected the way we have prepared for this big match. We have collected a few injuries this week but let’s keep things in perspective. We have just beaten Spurs and earned a point against Palace, both away from home. Some people would have taken that after our defeat by Brighton.

I have heard some of the criticism which has come our way since last weekend, especially that we are bottom of the table in both distances covered and sprints this season.

I have all these statistics and more. They are not the best but in two of the games we had players sent off in the first half and that changes things a lot.

The inference from the stats is that the players are not fit enough but I don’t see us being over-run. We certainly finished strongly against Spurs and worked hard at Palace. Against Brighton, after the third goal, we quit a little because the game was over.

We are not flying and the stats don’t lie but they don’t tell you everything. Apart from the Brighton game, we have improved our stats significantly.

One other thing. The match at Wembley against Spurs was demanding and we planned to make changes in the second half at Palace. Unfortunately, Jose Fonte and Aaron Cresswell were injured during the game so we had to rethink things. That is not an excuse but an explanation.

If we had said before the Spurs and Palace games we would win one and draw the other, many would have taken that. Of course, you go into every game optimistic that you will win but following the Brighton defeat, which was very poor, I wanted to see a big improvement and for much of both games I did.

When you lose two valuable points by conceding in the 97th minute, it feels for a day or two like a defeat simply because it could - no, should - have been avoided.

The goal was difficult to take and Michail Antonio has borne the brunt of the criticism. Mainly, I know, the blame fell on him because he had the ball and he could make the decisions. I’ve spoken to him several times this week and he knows it. He does not make excuses. He said he couldn’t wait until tomorrow’s game to make things right but then he felt his hamstring in training this week so is not available.

It is not the hamstring which was repaired last season and I would expect him to be fit for our first game after the international break, at Watford.

When I spoke to him this week he said he knew there were only seconds to go and he knew he just had to keep the ball because he had been doing it for about 10 minutes before that.

What complicated it a little was that the Palace defender had tried to foul him but Michail had got away from him, so didn’t have an opponent close to him, as he would have expected.

He is the best in our team at keeping the ball because he is such a physical specimen but he saw several of our players in the box and decided to try to find one of them.

I said to the players straight after the game, when the temperature was still high, that it was not only Michail. He would not have crossed the ball if there hadn’t been three players up there. If there had been no one, he would have kept the ball for the final few seconds.

Maybe we were too optimistic, too positive, but in that moment we didn’t think of the team.

It was a difficult start to the week and we lost temporarily a bit of morale but these players are a resilient bunch, as has been proved many times.

We have conceded five points to late goals in three matches - against Southampton, Burnley and now Palace - but in two of those, we had a player sent off in the first half.

As for Liverpool, they are really good up front. They also have injuries but they still have players who can damage you. At the back they have had their issues but that is the way they play. Real Madrid are similar. They are very open, want to press high and mainly look forward.

It is not very easy to be a centre-back in their team. The way Liverpool play, you have to give something. If you want to be more solid you maybe sit 10 yards deeper but they don’t play that way.