Sunderland fell to a 1-0 defeat away at Huddersfield Town last night, though one player managed to impress.
Michael Beale saw his side’s three-game unbeaten run come to an end last night.
Relegation-threatened Huddersfield Town claimed a much-needed 1-0 win against the Black Cats, who now find themselves in 10th place of the Championship table.
It was a difficult performance from Sunderland with few impressing. But one player who did put in a good shift was Trai Hume.
Trai Hume ‘tenacious’ in Huddersfield Town defeat
Hume started on the right side of defence last night and was dependable as ever.
Despite the poor team performance, Hume managed to stand out, making 4 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 1 key pass, with 82 touches of the ball and a passing accuracy of 87% (Sofascore).
Sunderland Echo rated his performance a 7/10 on the night, with journalist Phil Smith adding:
“A typically tenacious performance – one of the few who really hit the level required. Neatly scored late on and made some fine challenges.”
The 21-year-old has now featured in all 32 of Sunderland’s Championship fixtures this season, scoring one and assisting one.
Sunderland must build around players like Hume
Signed for just £200,000 in January 2022, Hume now seems invaluable to Sunderland.
He’s becoming such a confident and classy player, and one who can quickly pick up new techniques and new roles.
Hume has become settled at right-back and like Smith writes, Hume is one of the few last night who looked up to scratch.
The Northern Ireland international has really hit a high level of consistency. He’s getting better and better as the weeks go by and it seems like Sunderland have a real gem on their hands.
And so the Sunderland owners and Beale must start building a team round players like Hume, Anthony Patterson, Dan Ballard, Dan Neil and so on, as these younger players are reaching new heights this season.
Whilst some may leave in the summer, with Jack Clarke looking like the obvious, Sunderland have the likes of Hume under contract until 2027, and so there’s scope for the youngster to really prevail with Sunderland and help push the club towards the Premier League.
Right now though, Sunderland are starting to fall behind in the race for top six.
Up next is a trip to Tony Mowbray’s Birmingham City this weekend.