Roy Hodgson has declared himself happy with Crystal Palace's form since taking charge, but admits that his side have been left playing catch-up in the battle for survival.
The Eagles made a dreadful start to the Premier League campaign, becoming the first ever English Football League side to lose their opening seven games without scoring.
Hodgson replaced Frank de Boer during that run and has collected 10 points from Palace's last 11 games, lifting them off the foot of the table and now within three points of safety, but the ex-England boss admits that their early-season struggles could prove damaging.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Hodgson said: "If we'd have got the same number of points from the first seven games, we'd have been middle of the table which at the moment would be an area we'd be more than comfortable to be in. But we are playing catch-up. We shot ourselves in the foot.
"When you take no points from seven games, you don't even score a goal and you've got a minus 15 goal difference, what you're saying is, we've cut our season down by a fifth and now you've got to work really hard in the other 80% of the season left to get those points back somehow.
"I think we're clawing away, we're working very hard and I can't ask any more of what I'm getting from the players, they're giving their absolute all to try and get points wherever we can and if we can keep that up and guarantee me those performances for the next 23 games, I will be feeling quite confident."
Palace, still without an away win or a goal this term, welcome Bournemouth and Watford to Selhurst Park in their next two games.
