Imagine you are a singer, comedian, speaker, any form of entertainer. Their worst nightmare is the audience leaving mid-performance. Now think of the impact a crowd leaving in the middle of a match can have on a football team. That aspect is overlooked.

“Is this a fire drill, is this a fire drill, is this a fire drill, is this a fire drill” is my favorite chant sung by an away end of traveling supporters. It shames those in the crowd who show up for their home team and then leave prematurely. You can sing that same chant to the away team’s supporters, but it doesn’t have the same punch. A home team’s stadium emptying is soul-crushing.

I can picture the smirk on the face of that supporter leaving as the camera pans around the stadium. They think, “I’m making a difference” by showing their displeasure with the performance, but that difference is not felt by the manager or owners; it has a direct impact on the match. Then you have to feel bad for the players on the pitch as the camera pans to their exasperated faces.

Football is a game of momentum and emotion. The players feed off the crowd. Their faces drop, the intensity drops—in that moment it feels like there’s nothing to fight for, but they are professionals. They have to carry on.

In the cold world of tactical analysis, I would argue that we in the public don’t factor this part of a game in enough. This is not something you can see in the data. No formation or personnel change can replace the humiliation that is felt.

The chance to turn it around is not zero, but I would argue, if the stadium has emptied, it is a near-impossible task to save a match. You need the crowd behind you to turn a game around. You need that support. You need the noise.

That’s why you’ll see struggling teams trying to pump up the crowd with every positive action. They need the crowd behind them.

Teams like this play better away because there is a negative atmosphere at home. They are the underdogs when they play away from home. It’s easier to perform in front of a full crowd of people who don’t support you and are rooting for you to lose than it is to play in front of a crowd that supports you but knows you will lose.

This is a dynamic you can feel even if you’re a winning team. Think of the “meaningless” games where the team have qualified for the playoff, won the league, or any situation where the game is made to feel like a friendly. No one wants to feel like they’re wasting their time being there.

It’s one thing to be losing, but it’s another thing to turn up and know that the crowd is going to leave. You don’t have what it takes to keep them in their seats. That feeling is something you can anticipate, but it’s worse when you know it can’t be avoided.