A night of humiliation for Arsenal. Completely and utterly shameful.
Unai Emery was appointed as the club’s new manager to clear up the mess left by Arsene Wenger.
By the evidence of what happened here in Belarus, the Spaniard hasn’t even found the hoover yet.
Bate midfielder Stanislav Dragun (2nd right) gives the home side the lead with a header in the final minute of the first half
Cech can only watch as Dragun’s header makes its way into the net as Maksim Skavysh (right) celebrates in the background
Dragun (left) is congratulated by his team-mates after breaking the deadlock at the Borisov Arena on Thursday night
Arsenal’s players look dejected as they make their way back to their own half after falling behind minutes before half-time
Alexandre Lacazette shows his disappointment after being shown a red card for lashing out Aleksandar Filipovic (right)
MATCH FACTS
BATE (4-3-3): Scherbitski 7; Rios 7, Volkov 7, Filipenko 7.5, Filipovic 6.5; Baga 6.5, Dragun 8, Hleb 7 (Berezkin 58, 6); Milic 7.5 (Dubajic 69), Skavysh 7 (Moukam 80), Stasevich 7
Subs not used: Chichkan, Yablonski, Simovic, Bessmertny
Booked: Dubajic, Filipovic, Dragan
Manager: Alyaksey Baha 7.5
ARSENAL (3-4-3): Cech 6; Mustafi 5, Koscielny 6, Monreal 5.5; Maitland-Niles 5.5 (Aubameyang 68, 5.5), Guendouzi 5.5, Xhaka 5 (Torreira 69, 5.5), Kolasinac 6.5 (Suarez 74); Iwobi 5, Mkhitaryan 5, Lacazette 5.
Subs not used: Leno, Elneny, Lichtsteiner Nketiah. Booked: Xhaka. Redcard: Lacazette
Manager: Unai Emery 4
Referee: Srdjan Jovanovic (SRB) 6
MOM: Dragan
Arsenal should count themselves lucky they have next week’s second leg to dig themselves out of the gaping hole they find themselves in following this embarrassing loss to BATE Borisov.
But they don’t deserve a second chance after this lacklustre showing lacking any semblance of integrity.
Clubs the size of Arsenal don’t lose to sides like BATE. Well, somehow, Arsenal find themselves in an almighty predicament.
And they only have themselves to blame after this woeful performance.
It’s not quite all eggs in one basket time; but the Europa League’s significance for Arsenal this season is increasingly apparent – not that you’d know it by this pathetic display.
Reaching the Champions League, by hook or by crook, remains the be-all-and-end-all for Emery.
They’re a point behind Manchester United in the race for fourth place in the Premier League but the way Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s side are hurtling along, at least domestically, you can’t see them relinquishing their grip on the final Champions League qualification slot.
With that in mind, Emery fielded a strong line-up here in Borisov – Granit Xhaka, Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan included from the start.
The bench wasn’t bad either – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Denis Suarez and Lucas Torreira all on stand-by if the going got too tough.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan comes close to opening the scoring in the second minute after meeting a cross from Sead Kolasinac
Petr Cech (left) makes a save to deny Nemanja Milic (centre) as defender Laurent Koscielny (right) watches on
That didn’t matter a jot. They could all have been playing at the same time and it wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference.
On that note, a penny for Mesut Ozil’s thoughts tonight?
Yet again, there was no place in the dugout for Ozil, the club’s top-earner left back in England despite completing two full days of training after missing Saturday’s win over Huddersfield through illness.
How Ozil’s future resolves itself in the coming weeks and months will dictate how Arsenal’s summer goes.
If, as planned, they can sell their mercurial misfit, they’ll release £350,000-per-week off the wage bill, giving Emery more to play with in the transfer market as will returning to European football’s top table.
So it begs the question: why on earth is the club’s top earner, an arguably most creative player, sat at home in London when his team-mates are being embarrassed 1,200 miles away in Belarus?
Alexandre Lacazette (right) watches his header fly well over the bar after meeting a cross from Kolasinac in the first half
Shkodran Mustafi (right) fails to stop Belarusian forward Maksim Skavysh getting a shot away during the first leg clash
In fairness, Arsenal should have taken a second minute lead, Mkhitaryan shooting straight at keeper Denis Scherbitski from close range after Sead Kolasinac’s pass before the BATE shoot-stopper denied Alex Iwobi.
An early goal would have settled any early Arsenal nerves, but instead they endured some edgy moments – first Nemanja Milic saw his effort saved by Petr Cech in the 13th minute after Granit Xhaka was booked for a cynical foul on the BATE forward as he threatened to bare down on goal after Matteo Guendouzi’s mistake.
Having won here in the Europa League group stages last season, Arsenal, at least in theory, knew what it took to win here.
Having said that, only four of yesterday’s match-day squad made the trip to Borisov last season.
Change has swept through the Emirates Stadium over the past 18 months. Emery’s task is to ensure those changes equal something tangible.
Alex Iwobi shows his frustration after missing a chance to give the visitors the lead during the Europa League clash
Guendouzi saw his effort from a tight angle stopped by Scherbitski before Lacazette missed a glorious headed opportunity in the 20th minute.
But BATE, who had former Arsenal forward Alex Hleb in their team, were hanging in there, creating opportunities of their own – Milic hit the foot of the post with a close range flick in the 28th minute.
This was far from Arsenal in full flow. More stuttering than stunning; synonymous with how Arsenal have been performing of late – a run of six defeats in their last 13 games ahead of this game underlining their recent mediocrity.
That’s life for Emery, right now. His job is to resolve the frailties whilst picking up results to keep Arsenal in contention for Champions League qualification.
Tough task. Particularly when you have to watch your side behind to a team they should be routinely dispatching of.
Dragan wheeled away in celebration after thumping a header from Igor Stasevich’s free-kick past Cech on the stroke of half-time.
Alexandre Lacazette (right) puts the ball in the net but the French striker’s close range effort is disallowed for offside
Lacazette shows his frustration after realising that the lineman had raised his flag for offside moments after his strike
In the aftermath, Arsenal’s defence just stood their looking at each other. It’s a shame, at least for Arsenal, that no-one looked hard enough to spot Dragan as he rose above everyone.
It was no more than Arsenal deserved. No invention in attack, wobbly in defence.
Arsenal did have the ball in the net in the 56th minute, Lacazette firing home Kolasinac’s cross – but the effort was rightly ruled out for offside.
But BATE refused to pegged back, Stasevich forcing Cech into an smart save on the hour mark.
By now Emery had seen enough, making a double substitution in the 68th minute – Aubameyang and Torreira replacing Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Xhaka before Denis Suarez came on for Kolasinac to make his European debut for Arsenal.
But not even the cavalry could rescue the turgid Gunners. Utterly woeful.
And to top of their awful night Lacazette was shown a straight red card for a clear and intentional elbow on Aleksandar Filipovic.
