‘He’s not Premier League quality’ – Sunderland fans fume at player’s ‘shambolic’ display vs West Ham
Sunderland were humiliated on Saturday as relegation-threatened West Ham cruised to a simple 3-1 victory at the London Stadium.
A diabolical first-half display put the result out of reach at half-time as Regis Le Bris’ side shipped three goals within 43 minutes.
Sunderland have been excellent for much of this season, but their performance was also a return to normality as they had no answer for Nuno Espirito Santo’s experienced side.
As a result of the performance, many fans were fuming with multiple players, with Trai Hume in particular being singled out.
⏱️ Defeat at London Stadium. #WHUSUN pic.twitter.com/T1PCkvAerq
— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) January 24, 2026
Sunderland fans roast Trai Hume after tragic display vs West Ham
Hume has been a regular for Sunderland this season, keeping his place in the team despite their promotion.
In the Premier League, he has played every single game to date and has rarely dropped a bad performance.
Hume’s form has even earned praise away from the Stadium of Light, with the full-back impressing while with Northern Ireland.
However, with Le Bris choosing to play the 23-year-old in midfield on Saturday, this experiment went quickly wrong. During his time on the pitch, he was woeful as he went on to concede a penalty in a terrible display.
As a result, the full-back was brought off at half-time, with many Sunderland fans taking to X to express their frustration with the performance.
Absolute shocker by #SAFC.
— Stephen Goldsmith (@GoldyWMS) January 24, 2026
Felt like a no brainer to start Geertruida in midfield and that shambolic performance by Hume just makes the call even more bizarre.
Hume and Mundle aren’t prem quality #safc
— Oluwaseun Bamgboye (@bamgboyeolu) January 24, 2026
Awful from Hume. Single worst performance of the season. Deserve to be getting beat but Regis needs to prove his worth if Xhaka missing does this to us. #SAFC
— Robert Armstrong (@irobarmstrong) January 24, 2026
Disaater of a half so far. Hume needs dropped #safc
— Tom Wilcock (@TomWilcock8) January 24, 2026
Many fans also blamed Le Bris for willingly putting Hume in midfield when it was clearly the wrong decision.
never play Hume RM or CM again please, he’s not good enough there!!!! gertruida on the bench, diarra on the bench man!!! useless decision #safc
— Ben Grimes (@BenGrimes1) January 24, 2026
RLB has to own this one. Hume in midfield is the worst decision. We have midfielders to do that job. Fuming. #safc
— Mackem Karl. (@Mackem_1973) January 24, 2026
Le Bris has had a bit of a mare playing Hume in midfield #safc
— Michael Bell (@Safcmbell) January 24, 2026
How bad was Trai Hume against West Ham?
Hume’s performance for Sunderland was certainly dire.
According to Fotmob on 24 January, the full-back only completed one out of four crosses, he failed to win a single ground duel and he didn’t complete a single dribble.
On top of this, he only completed 79 per cent of his passes, on top of conceding the penalty.
| Trai Hume’s stats vs West Ham | |
| Minutes | 45 |
| Crosses completed | 25% |
| Ground duels won | 0 |
| Dribbles completed | 0 |
| Penalties conceded | 1 |
| Passing completion | 79% |
It was no doubt Hume’s worst performance of the season so far, as Sunderland embarrassed themselves in East London.
Now, the task for Le Bris is to ensure that Hume’s and the Black Cats’ display is just a blip, and not a sign of things to come.
With Sunderland facing another relegation-threatened side in Burnley next, it presents the perfect chance to bounce back in style at the Stadium of Light.