Talking Points: “Hume & Beale — what was that all about?!”

Talking Points: “What was the whole story behind Hume and Beale?!”
Tony Mowbray had the final laugh on Saturday as the Lads lost 2-1 despite grabbing the lead through Jack Clarke in the first half. Phil West examines the primary plots of the game.

Another step backwards after a passive second half

If the recent victories against Stoke City and Plymouth, either side of a gritty draw with Middlesbrough, were encouraging in terms of results if not performances, Saturday was another case of Sunderland having a game in the palm of their hand and letting it slide in quite inexplicable fashion.

After taking the lead through Jack Clarke’s neat finish towards the end of a first half in which we’d looked solid, efficient and lively going forward, we committed the cardinal sin of adopting a passive approach to the second half which allowed Birmingham to first gain a foothold, and then score the goals that secured the victory.

In the aftermath of a limp display against Huddersfield on Wednesday evening, it was more proof that away from home, we don’t have the fortitude and the single mindedness to eke out results against teams we simply have to beat if a playoff challenge is to be sustained.

When we needed to be positive, proactive and take the game to the Blues, we seemed to retreat and adopt something of an underdog approach after the break. It was a fool’s errand, not least because we don’t have the players to make a ‘safety first’ approach work, and one for which we paid a heavy price.

Yes, the story could’ve been different had Jobe opted to pass rather than shoot in the second half, but the fact is that two steps backwards have been taken this week, first in West Yorkshire and then in the West Midlands. A damaging seven days for our playoff hopes, without a doubt.

Romaine Mundle impresses with a lively display

After entering the fray as a substitute on Wednesday night (and escaping what could’ve easily been a red card for a wild, high challenge on one of Huddersfield’s players), Mundle found himself pitched into the starting eleven on Saturday, and performed extremely well before departing in the second half.

The January arrival from Standard Liege isn’t dissimilar in profile and playing style to Jack Clarke when he first arrived on Wearside, with a good turn of pace, plenty of skill, and potent crossing ability. He was always eager to beat his man and whip balls into the danger area, and his display was a real bright spot during the first half.

Yes, he’s raw, somewhat indisciplined and prone to moments of rashness, but the potential is there and it’s easy to see why he was brought to the club as a long-term option on the wing.

The more he plays, the more he’ll hopefully improve and although we won’t see the best of the youngster this season, 2024/2025 could certainly be a breakthrough campaign for the former Tottenham prodigy.

Jack Clarke delivers yet again

In twenty eight years of being put through the emotional mangle by this crazy football club of ours, I can’t really recall a single player on whose shoulders our fortunes have often rested to a greater degree than Clarke, which is to his credit and is something that we might only appreciate fully when he’s gone.

It was his sumptuous finish that gave us the lead against the Blues, and just as he’s done so many times this season, he showed a maturity beyond his years as he broke free and curled the ball past John Ruddy to open the scoring.

The pain of letting that lead slip would’ve been felt acutely by Clarke, so often has he been our saviour this season, and every goal, assist or magical piece of play he conjures up is only going to add even more to his potential transfer fee, if and when he heads for pastures new this summer.

Clarke has stood tall where others have sometimes failed to do so this season and for that, he deserves all of the credit that’ll be sent his way. A brilliant footballer with the mentality to match.

Michael Beale substitutes Trai Hume… and then duly snubs him

There’s no way of sugarcoating this and frankly, I’m not even going to try: the incident between Beale and the young full back in the second half was surreal, shocking, and quite frankly infuriating.

The Northern Irishman has been one of the most dedicated and committed players at the club for his entire spell at Sunderland, and the fact that Beale (who later claimed that he genuinely didn’t see him, in a defence that was stretching credibility to breaking point) saw fit to blank Hume as he made his way back to the dugout knocked me for six, and I suspect I wasn’t the only one who had that reaction.

Hume had done very little wrong on Saturday and if Beale wasn’t happy with something in his performance, why not wait until they were back in the confines of the changing room before addressing it? It was always going to be picked up and dissected, and it’s created another issue that we frankly don’t need.

It was awful to see Beale blatantly ignore his young charge, and it certainly won’t do much for team spirit, either. Hume deserves far better, and you can only hope that his confidence hasn’t been knocked by the cold shoulder from his head coach.