Mads Hermansen reflects on the agony of experiencing Premier League relegation with Leicester City last season, an ordeal he hopes to avoid with West Ham. The goalkeeper openly discusses the immense strain and pressure that comes with being at the bottom of the Premier League. However, he asserts that he has learned valuable lessons from the previous season, and following West Ham's decisive 4-0 victory over Wolves, which has put their survival chances in their own hands, there is a cautious sense of optimism that the team's unity can help them evade the same fate as the Foxes. "We've been dealing with this for several months," Hermansen says about West Ham's struggles this season.
"The fear of our possible destination is not easy to navigate, but credit to everyone at the club for maintaining high spirits and making us believe we can turn things around." West Ham has moved out of the relegation zone for the first time in a month with the win over Wolves. Still, this battle seems likely to go down to the wire, with London rivals Tottenham, as well as Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, far from being safe. If West Ham is to stay up, Hermansen believes their unity will be crucial.
"Our togetherness, our relationships between us," he says when asked about the group's strengths. "Every single person brings their personality to the team, and we have many great characters here willing to give everything for the club." It has been a season where Denmark international Hermansen has personally had to demonstrate resilience. The highly-rated 25-year-old was signed last summer to be West Ham's 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. Since his reinstatement, he has made more saves than any other Premier League goalkeeper and kept four clean sheets in eight matches. "I wanted to come in and prove to my teammates, to the club, and the fans that they made a good decision in signing me, and of course, the performances were not what I had 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 hard I can work for a longer period," he said.
"I proved to myself what I really can do when things get tough." 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 I can separate the emotional aspect from the football part of my life and 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 show myself the best way possible." Hermansen, like West Ham, has come back stronger for the run-in. But he and his teammates 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."