Twente questions Wenger must face

A lightweight midfield of Denilson, Aaron Ramsey, Emmanuel Eboue and Theo Walcott, all 5ft 8in or under, were overrun as Twente went for the jugular.

Cheik Tiote, the Ivory Coast midfielder, was particularly impressive, and Wenger's youngsters had little answer in the opening period, with Emmanuel Adebayor a bystander as the ball was - uncharacteristically for a Wenger side - lumped long and aimlessly over his head.

McClaren, whose side got the ball wide and pressed and harried in the manner he promised England would do under his tenure, was self-congratulatory as he noted afterwards that Wenger was "rattled within ten minutes".

The Arsenal boss blasted the fourth official over perceived slights and raged at his team from the technical area.

And he must have known that if Twente had a finisher on the pitch, his side could be staring down the barrel of a disastrous defeat.

Arsenal were lucky to escape when Romano Denneboom waltzed through after 25 minutes but panicked in sight of goal, blazing over.

Goalkeeper Manuel Almunia was then called upon as Marko Arnautovic's poor touch allowed him to smother after Denneboom's flick had torn Arsenal's defence apart.

Robin van Persie saw an effort cleared off the line and Bacary Sagna fired wide but Wenger's side were frustrated, as shown by silly bookings picked up by Denilson and the Dutchman. But they could not play that badly for a whole game.

Sensing that Twente had missed their chance, Arsenal struck on the hour, William Gallas repaying the faith Wenger has shown in his captaincy by nudging home Van Persie's free-kick.

The goal quietened the Twente crowd, who had lauded McClaren, taking charge of his first competitive game since England ended their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign with a humiliating defeat by Croatia last November.

And Walcott, formerly anonymous, helped to all but finish the tie, drawing the last defender before giving Adebayor a tap-in to secure a comfortable margin to take into the second leg.

Fabregas's absence, however, only underlined how vital he is to this side as, with no-one to dictate the tempo, Arsenal were rudderless for an hour.

Gallas stepped up to take charge but the failure to replace Mathieu Flamini - which will be remedied within the next fortnight - could cost Wenger's team in the first few weeks of the season.

And with reinforcements needed, the lack of depth in Wenger's squad was illustrated by the options on the bench, with Mark Randall the only midfielder, bar 16-year-old Jack Wilshere, he could turn to.

Johan Djourou, told by Wenger to take his chance after a season in which his progress stalled, was generally impressive, while Van Persie always offered an outlet.

But this was a performance to worry Arsenal fans, who have watched with growing alarm this summer as stars left and others talked about pastures new.

Nasri will come in and surely displace the woeful Eboue on the wing but he may need six months to get up to the speed of the English game following his move from Marseille.

And the feeling remains that while Chelsea can give Frank Lampard the mega-deal he wanted and Manchester United can afford to offer £28million for Dimitar Berbatov, Arsenal, with their strict wage structure, will find it hard to compete.