Trai Hume has been praised once again after picking up a clean sheet in Northern Ireland’s win over Scotland.
Trai Hume made his international debut just two months after joining Sunderland, and has since gone from strength to strength.
The full-back now has 12 caps to his name and has started Northern Ireland’s previous ten matches, including last night’s surprise victory over Scotland at Hampden Park.
Despite right-back Connor Bradley’s success with Liverpool, Michael O’Neill has still managed to fit the Sunderland defender into his team, and he has now started in four different positions for his country.
Another quality display from Hume yesterday is exactly why O’Neill wants to squeeze him into the starting line-up wherever possible, though last night showed him at his very best in his natural position.
It was Hume’s third clean sheet and third win for Northern Ireland, and he certainly played a key part in it.
The 22-year-old put on his usual defensive performance in which he made four tackles and five clearances, while he also won 75% of his aerial duels and 62% of his ground duels.
Hume was then awarded a rating of 8 by Belfast Live for his display in Glasgow, with journalist Steven Crawford writing: “The Sunderland man stood up to everything thrown at him.”
Northern Ireland know how to get the best out of Trai Hume
Hume played alongside his Sunderland teammate Dan Ballard, who was also praised for his ‘fantastic’ display on international duty.
The pair have both performed brilliantly for both club and country this season, though Northern Ireland certainly benefit from playing Hume as more of a defensive full-back.
The youngster has spent a majority of his Sunderland career in the same position, but since Tony Mowbray left, Hume has been asked to be more attacking.
He’s not exactly bad at pushing forward, but it always leaves their wingers with a lot of space and Hume often has to sprint back and will end up fouling them. While it was against a Premier League club, his performance against Newcastle United at the start of the year is a perfect example of that.
Hopefully once Patrick Roberts returns then we may see Hume stay further back, as it almost feels like we have an extra man in defence due to his excellent tackling ability.