Belerin did exactly the same on the other side.Whatever mitigation we put up for Aurier in terms of the team, the equalising goal was pretty shabby bit of defending, and at that point, that first ten minutes after half time, the game had calmed down a bit.
I don't hate Aurier as a player, my issue is more with people that criticise every tiny facet of Trippier and claim Aurier's massively better defensively, when there's absolutely mountains of evidence to suggest that Aurier's really not much better defensively overall.
I honestly can't remember a game where a team got behind our RB as often as they did yesterday, I literally lost count after about 6 times. So even if we were shit as a team, surely the idea is that the defensively superior Aurier should help limit the damage?
And here's the kicker, at least with Trippier, you'd know you are getting some offensive/midfield pay-off, he helps us play in forward areas, he often sees more ball than anyone in our team, Aurier rarely got over the halfway line yesterday.
The fact of the matter is we were a team defined by our fullbacks with Walker and Rose dominating the oppo. 2 seasons ago. Selling Walker (for which I support if a player wants out. Doing what we did probably enable to help us maintain our other players from leaving to Utd etc it was a good stance to take) and not having Rose fit or mentally right *insert whatever the fuck is wrong with him* we are no longer this team. We do not pin back the oppo our entire shape is different as a result. Our flanks (FB's) are our weakest part of the team, this has also been compounded by not having Dembele and Wanyama available at their best levels too, the relationship with the covering DM/CM is as important defensively as it is playing out from the back too).
Trippier is still by far one of our worst players, we are a more balanced team with Aurier in the side, NOTHING & I mean NOTHING will persuade me otherwise. But we can and should look to find a better RB. Davies is not as good as Rose when he was at his best, looks like Rose simply isn't the Rose he was before his injury and The Sun exclusives, we can and should be looking for a better LB.
If it was me I'd flog Tripps, keep Aurier and look for a better player than Aurier (KWP is a player I love but I'm not convinced with his physicality yet). Rose has to be sold if he can't get onto the pitch, I mean he is not even challenging that spot now, either because he's not good enough or injured, Davies has been great all things considered given his limitations and having to basically play almost every week whilst Rose fucks about. To sell both LB's would be a risk, so Rose I would sell.
The biggest issue is that our whole homegrown quota is screwed. I'm shit at keeping up with this bollocks but as I understand it Davies doesn't count as homegrown because he was trained under the Welsh FA, despite that Swansea play in the English FA (how fucked is that). Tripps is counted as Homegrown(??) if so that fucks us if we sell him, so we are stuck with him, which is annoying as I think we can make some big money off him (although his price is dropping like a stone given how he is playing).
What a pickle but if it's just a quality thing then Tripps and Rose should be sold and replaced.