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In the heart of north London, jubilant fans have been celebrating their team’s recent triumph, while a different scenario unfolds for another group of supporters in the capital who find themselves on edge.
The intense relegation showdown between West Ham and Tottenham is set to reach its climax on the season’s final day, as Tottenham failed to secure a crucial point in their last match.
The stakes are high, as being demoted to the Championship would have significant repercussions for the team facing the drop, especially considering both clubs have been competing on the European stage in recent years.
Roberto Forzoni, a seasoned sports psychologist, is no stranger to these high-pressure situations. With experience working alongside eight Premier League teams, he brings a wealth of knowledge on managing the stress of a relegation struggle, having previously helped West Ham pull off their remarkable ‘Great Escape’ during the 2006/2007 season.
In an exclusive chat with Oddschecker, Forzoni delved into the psychological dynamics at play in contemporary football. He explored how teams handle relegation threats, the anxiety within locker rooms, the impact of social media scrutiny, and the practices that distinguish top-tier athletes from the rest.
West Ham are looking to gazump Spurs and survive the drop on Sunday afternoon
Trailing their North London rivals by two points, and with goal difference strongly favouring Tottenham, things are looking bleak for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side. But Forzoni says that negative mindset is exactly what drags a team into the position West Ham find themselves in.
‘The biggest challenge in a relegation battle is that players stop focusing on performance and start focusing on consequences,’ he said.
‘They think about criticism, failure, relegation or what mistakes might mean. Players start playing the situation rather than the ball.’
With the immediacy of social media, players and staff experience overwhelming negativity the moment they step off the pitch.
It can affect the most experienced of players, with skipper Jarrod Bowen admitting his role comes with ‘extra responsibility, extra questions to be answered and people pointing the finger at you,’ in a recent interview with Sky Sports.
‘That changes behaviour,’ Forzoni said.
‘Players stop taking risks, play safer passes and become reluctant to try things that normally come naturally to them. Players become reactive rather than proactive.’
‘Anxiety travels through a dressing room faster than confidence. When physical anxiety and cognitive worry both rise too high, performance doesn’t decline gently – it falls off a cliff.’
Forzoni remembers this happening during his time in East London, adding: ‘At West Ham, even members of staff believed the situation was hopeless. That kind of thinking becomes contagious.’
Tottenham are in control of the relegation battle and need one point to secure survival
As things have declined at the club this season, the pressure has become more prominent on the pitch.
In what was seen as a must-win game, West Ham were comfortably beaten 3-1 by Newcastle United, in a performance Daily Mail Sport’s Craig Hope described as ‘self-sabotage. Angry travelling supporters could even be heard chanting that players were ‘not fit to wear the shirt’.
So, with one match left, how can Nuno and his men turn things around?
‘At West Ham, one of the things we changed was work rate,’ said Forzoni.
‘The players felt they were working hard, but objectively they weren’t matching the opposition.
‘So we set targets around effort and preparation. We wanted to become one of the hardest-working and best-prepared teams in the league.
‘Once the players bought into that mentality, the results changed dramatically.’
If he were in the dressing room today, Forzoni says he would look to shift players’ mentality – Less noise, less fear, more work. Focus on the challenge ahead, not what can happen if you fail.
‘The aim is to clear out the noise and redirect attention onto controllable behaviours,’ he said.
‘At West Ham, I asked the players whether they believed we could stay up. Almost nobody raised their hand. Then I asked whether they believed we could win the next match, and a few players did.
‘So we stopped talking about survival and focused entirely on the next game.
‘That’s often the key psychologically – narrowing the focus and simplifying the challenge.’
Roberto Forzoni worked with the Hammers in 2006 and has revealed the key to survival
Forzoni spoke about ‘learned helplessness,’ where people start believing nothing they do will change the outcome.
And while a Spurs win against Everton will nullify anything West Ham can do, players need to approach this game with their blinders up.
‘That means training properly, preparing well, working hard and sticking to the tactical plan,’ Forzoni said.
‘Once you get players concentrating on controllable factors again, the mindset starts to change.
‘Change what their attention is spent on, and you change the performance.’