“You can see your career, it’s going downwards, and you’re about to get relegated. Being in those feelings and emotions as a group and as a club, it’s really tough.”
Mads Hermansen is reflecting on the pain of Premier League relegation last season with Leicester City. It’s not an experience he wants to repeat with West Ham.
The goalkeeper is open and honest about the strain and pressure at the bottom end of the Premier League.
But he says he has taken “a lot” of lessons from last season and, after West Ham’s thumping 4-0 win over Wolves put their survival hopes in their own hands, there is now cautious optimism the team’s “togetherness” can help them avoid the same fate as the Foxes.
“We’ve been in this for quite many months,” says Hermansen about West Ham’s struggles this season. “The fear of where we might go, it’s not easy to work in. But praise to everyone here at the club for keeping the spirits high and making us believe that we can turn it around.”
West Ham moved out of the relegation zone for the first time in a month with that win over Wolves. But this looks like a battle which could go right down to the wire, with London rivals Tottenham, as well as Nottingham Forest and Leeds United far from safe.
If West Ham are to stay up, Hermansen believes their unity will be vital. “Our togetherness, our relationships between us,” he says, when asked about the group’s strengths. “Every single person gives their personality to the team and we have so many great characters here who are willing to give everything they can for the club.”
Highlights from the match between West Ham and Wolves in the Premier League
It has been a season where Denmark international Hermansen has had to show resilience personally, too.
The highly-rated 25-year-old was signed last summer to be the Hammers’ No 1 but after just four Premier League games, in which the team conceded 11 goals, he was dropped for Alphonse Areola.
He didn’t play again until a FA Cup win over QPR in January and had to wait until February 7 at Burnley for a Premier League comeback.
But since his reinstatement, he has made more saves than any other Premier League goalkeeper and kept four clean sheets in eight matches.
Hermansen has impressed since returning to the West Ham team in early February
“I wanted to come in and prove to my team-mates, to the club and the fans that they made a good decision on getting me in, and of course the performances were not what I hoped for,” says Hermansen, reflecting on his difficult start. “I’m just happy I got another chance to show what I can do.”
Hermansen says he is “proud” of how he used his time out of the team to improve his game so he was ready to step up when needed.
“It was a tough time but I also got the chance to show what I’m made of and how disciplined and how hard I can work for a longer period,” he said. “I proved to myself what I really can do when things get tough.
“I’m proud of the work I did in that period and to be able to also bring it to the pitch, and together with the team having some great performances and also great results has been really nice.”
Hermansen punches the ball clear from danger at Villa Park
What areas of his game did he focus on? “I’m quite an emotional guy and when things get emotional, I try to ask myself how can I take all this emotional stuff out of the football part of my life, and then just get my job done and do everything I can, so every night when I go to bed I can say to myself, I did everything I could to improve and to show myself the best way possible.
“Those questions I had to ask myself in that period, I’ve really learned to bring that along now when I’m playing, which has helped me a lot.
“It’s easy coming out of a tough period saying it was really good for me but I really learned a lot from it.”
Hermansen, like West Ham, has come back stronger for the run-in. But he and his team-mates are well aware the job isn’t done yet.
“We believe a lot in ourselves,” he said. “It’s going to get tough but we believe we have a lot to give.”
