Fulham midfielder Lewis Holtby is convinced Fulham are good enough to escape relegation but says they need to be stronger defensively.
Fulham twice led against Liverpool last night but conceded a 90th-minute goal at Craven Cottage to lose 3-2 and leave themselves bottom of the Premier League, four points from safety.
Holtby concedes Rene Meulensteen’s side must tighten up at the back but believes they have the quality to survive. The on-loan Tottenham midfielder said: “We’ve got the quality to stay up but we need to get some points. We had a fantastic game but have nothing to show for it and that is not what you need when you are fighting against relegation. We need to be solid at the back because we are conceding too many goals and that is a problem.
“We could have had three points but we lost so have to pick ourselves up and be ready for the next game. We have to be mentally strong – that is the key to getting out of the bottom three.”
Steven Gerrard scored an injury-time penalty as Liverpool moved to within four points of leaders Chelsea.
Fulham are without a win since New Year’s Day but showed enough to suggest they can get out of trouble.
Holtby said: “It is really hard to imagine we lost this. We had a really good game and it could have been three points against a Liverpool side who did not have their best game. It is really disappointing but we can’t keep saying we are playing well, we need to start getting points to get out of the drop zone. It is up to us to show mental strength now but there is still a belief we can stay up.”
