Relegation to the championship continues to affect West Ham’s international players as their reputations, selections and starting places suffer now that they play for a second tier club.
For West Ham, most obviously Jarrod Bowen’s continued exclusion from an England squad – despite several withdrawals after initial selection – seemingly means Thomas Tuchel has made his decision over selecting a player from the second tier – however good his domestic form appears.
And the same fate appears to have befallen West Ham’s number one Mads Hermansen. The Dane, called up for his national side, was omitted from the starting line up last night as the Danish team went down 3-2 to Erling Haaland’s Norway.
Hermansen – still not Denmark’s first choice keeper despite Schmeichel’s retirement
For Hermansen, overlooked last night in favour of Filip Jörgensen, Chelsea’s on- loan keeper playing this season at Strasbourg, it must have been a difficult watch.
Hermansen has spent seemingly forever as ‘always the bridesmaid, never the bride‘on international duty, waiting years for Kasper Schmeichel to retire.
Schmeichel finally hung up his gloves at 39 after a career ending shoulder injury earlier this year, seemingly clearing the way for Hermansen, so being left on the bench in favour of another first choice keeper seems a huge disappointment for West Ham’s first choice keeper.
Redemption may not be far away, though, as his replacement received pretty dreadful reviews in the defeat by Norway averaging only 4.3 – the lowest rating amongst the 22 starters with one Haaland shot finding the net after slipping between Jorgensen’s legs.
Fingers crossed for Hermansen that his international manager Brian Reimer changes his line up on Sunday for Denmark’ s home fixture against Wales and gives Mads a place between the sticks.