About

Early Days

Intense. That’s the first word that comes to mind regarding my feelings for football/soccer.

Hi, my name is Aymen—and first and foremost—I want to thank you for visiting the site.

The story begins in Nigeria, where I was born and raised. Football was the sport we followed most avidly, and my memories, particularly of two tournaments in 1994: the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup, are among my earliest experiences of the exhilarating emotions this sport generates. After those tournaments, friends of mine and I pretended to be the various Super Eagles stars like: Yekini, Amokachi, Amunike, or Okocha as we played on our school fields.

In 1996, Nigeria would go on to win the Olympic Gold Medal in dramatic fashion with the next wave of superstars like: Kanu, Babangida, and Babayaro. This meant more players and goal celebrations to imitate at school, but more importantly, it increased football fever in the country—and certainly in me.

Club Football

While there was undoubted love for the Super Eagles—especially in the glory years of the 90s—domestic teams in the Nigeria Professional Football League hardly garnered the same level of fandom. Enter the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A etc. The fanbase generated by these European leagues in markets like Nigeria is immense! Virtually everyone I knew growing up supported Premier League sides, with a few exceptions including me.

During the 90s and 2000s, Italy’s Serie A was arguably the strongest league in the world, and when my favorite player at the time—Rui Costa—joined AC Milan in the 2000/01 season, I quickly became a fan of the team.

Supporting the Rossoneri—Milan’s Italian nickname because of their red and black striped jersey—has brought me delight and despair in equal measure, but probably more of the latter if I’m being candid. Suffice to say, following club football and Milan has definitely amplified my passion for the sport.

Life Happens

Shifting focus away from football briefly—although I’ll connect the dots later—there’s another passion I have developed that has been truly beneficial. Due to personal challenges I’ve faced over the years, I have taken a deep interest in mental health and wellness—especially in a more structured way since 2019.

For much of my life I’ve dealt with anxiety: primarily health and social anxiety. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been an introvert and reserved which has typically made social settings difficult to navigate. My fear of illness and death began a bit later, however. In 1999, a couple of weeks before I turned 14, I saw my neighbor pass away from a heart attack. Since that day, I have struggled in varying degrees with anxiety over health issues that can lead to death.

I was incapable of verbalizing what festered internally, never mind being able to process it, so I suppressed things from others and myself. This approach actually made me feel “fine” roughly six months after the incident, and because of that I was convinced everything was resolved.

Poor Work-Life Balance

Fast forward to 2017, and after a sustained period of relative calm regarding my health anxiety, suddenly things regressed. This was about three years after I started a business, and the accompanying lifestyle eventually took its toll. Poor sleep habits, constant stress, and a lack of genuine fulfillment from the daily grind were eating away at me without my realizing.

The result was a recurrence of the debilitating migraines that I hadn’t experienced since I was a teenager. The fact that it had been roughly 14 or 15 years since this occurred caused me to spiral into a former state that I knew all too well. Instantly my anxiety over my health, and the fear of something terminal, resurfaced and eventually led me to a nervous breakdown within three months.

Still, I stubbornly persevered the only way I knew: suppression. Despite how I truly felt inside, I managed to put on an outward front in my daily life; I also failed to take proper action and find a proper remedy. After all, I had fooled myself into thinking this method “worked” in the past, so surely it would be the solution once more. I briefly considered therapy and other avenues that could provide relief, but my conditioning left me on autopilot thinking I could manage the way I always had.

Search for Clarity

A couple of years would pass when in 2019, after a major loss in my family, I finally hit the proverbial wall. In that two year window since my anxiety had escalated, it was clear my suppression hadn’t brought about peace of mind; I knew my ineffective coping mechanisms needed addressing, and that’s when my exploration of mental health and wellness began.

Since seeking healing for myself, I’ve become more cognizant of the situations we all frequently face, how they threaten to compromise our mental wellbeing, and how we think we have things under control. I’ve been fortunate to discover a range of tools and practices that help me, and so many others, mitigate the effects of daily stressors on our mental health.

The following practices have helped me manage my anxiety in a more productive and healthy way; I would invite anyone reading this that struggles with stress and/or anxiety, to give one—or all—of these a try if you feel comfortable doing so:

meditating
deep belly breathing exercises
daily walking/exercise/physical movement
journaling
therapy

Passions Meets Purpose

So this is where football and mental health merge. People in the professional football world are not immune to mental health challenges. In fact, inadequate attention is given—by fans and media alike—to this matter. One recurring sentiment that is criminally dismissive is the financial compensation argument.

Because they are paid large sums in their professions, apparently players and managers are then disbarred from any form of vulnerability. This is ignorant at best, and callous at worst. More consideration for the mental demands they face is imperative. Since when does a person’s salary preclude them from the mental struggles all humans contend with daily?

In addition to mental wellness tools like those listed above, football has also been a source of relief for me over the years. Whether it’s reading articles and books, listening to podcasts, or watching matches, my intake of each form of content has provided respite. That said, I’ve noticed all of those mediums are still lacking when discussing mental health in football.

Couch Analysis

Rather than remain passive and just complain about this void, I decided to make my attempt to address the issue by starting this site. As the name of the site hints at, the majority of my football consumption takes place from the comfort of my couch. Coincidentally, that piece of furniture is also prominent in psychology and therapy settings.

Continuing with that theme of confluence, the aim of Couch Analysis is to bridge my two passions. Football matters in all forms, on and off the pitch will be covered, but honing in on mental health stories in the game is a key objective here. Hopefully doing so will generate more empathy from all of us, and put a spotlight on the psychological challenges faced by footballers and managers. It is certainly an area deserving of attention; if you’ve been kind enough to visit the site already, then hopefully some material here will leave you sharing that opinion.

Full disclosure, I’m not a mental health professional—or even a preeminent authority on football—but both subjects are near and dear to me. I constantly strive to educate myself on each topic, and intend to do them both justice through my content. Perhaps the result of such an approach is that we can all view football through a wider lens together.

I hope you’ll join me,

Aymen

P.S. For anyone seeking mental health resources, the following tools have been helpful for me:

www.theholisticpsychologist.com (the blog section has good reading material on mental health topics)
psychologytoday.com (good reading material on mental health, and for finding a therapist in your area if interested)
https://insighttimer.com (plenty of free meditation sessions)