"Seeing your career decline and facing relegation is a daunting experience for any player. It's a challenge that Mads Hermansen, the West Ham goalkeeper, is all too familiar with, having gone through it last season with Leicester City.
However, he's determined not to repeat that experience with his current team. Hermansen openly discusses the immense pressure and strain that comes with being at the bottom of the Premier League. Despite this, he believes that the lessons he learned from last season have been invaluable, and after West Ham's significant 4-0 victory over Wolves, which has put their survival hopes back in their own hands, there's a sense of cautious optimism that the team's unity can help them avoid relegation.
"We've been in this situation for several months now," Hermansen reflects on West Ham's struggles this season. "The fear of what might happen is not easy to deal with, but credit to everyone at the club for keeping our spirits high and making us believe that we can turn things around." With their win over Wolves, West Ham has moved out of the relegation zone for the first time in a month.
However, this battle for survival looks set to go down to the wire, with teams like Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, and Leeds United still not safe. If West Ham is to stay up, Hermansen believes that their team's unity will be crucial. "Our togetherness, the relationships between us, and every single person bringing their personality to the team - we have great characters here who are willing to give everything for the club," he says.
It's been a season where Hermansen has had to show personal resilience as well. After being signed as the Hammers' No 1, he was dropped after just four Premier League games due to the team conceding 11 goals. He didn't play again until a FA Cup win in January and had to wait until February for a Premier League comeback.
Since his return, he's made more saves than any other Premier League goalkeeper and kept four clean sheets in eight matches. Reflecting on his difficult start, Hermansen says, "I wanted to prove to my teammates, the club, and the fans that they made a good decision in signing me, and of course, the performances weren't what I had hoped for. I'm just happy I got another chance to show what I can do." Hermansen is proud of how he used his time out of the team to improve, ready to step up when needed. "It was a tough time, but I also got the chance to show what I'm made of, how disciplined and hard I can work for a longer period.
I proved to myself what I can do when things get tough." Focusing on his game, Hermansen worked on managing his emotions to improve his performance. "I'm 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. Those questions I had to ask myself during that period have really helped me when I'm playing now." Both Hermansen and West Ham have come back stronger for the final stretch of the season, but they're aware that the job is far from over. "We believe a lot in ourselves.
It's going to get tough, but we believe we have a lot to give."