Arsenal ruined Steve McClaren's debut as FC Twente goals from William Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor secured a victory unconvincing 2-0 in the Champions League Uefa the third qualifying round, first leg on Wednesday.
McClaren rarely enjoyed good fortune during his reign as England coach unhappy and the new administrator of the fate Twente clearly has not changed for the better yet. His side Arsenal played outside for long periods at the Gelredome in Arnhem before succumbing to a sucker punch when Arsenal captain Gallas struck close range midway through the second half.
If this is difficult for McClaren was worse will come when Adebayor added a second in the last minutes to leave Twente and Arsenal and touching distance of the lucrative group stages. Arsenal were below strength after a series of injuries, but despite the result, Gunners manager Arsène Wenger could not have been too happy with his team competition since the first screen output by Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb.
At least Arsenal have plenty of time to improve on competition. Twente McClaren and the first taste of Champions League could be the last for quite a while. McClaren was last seen forlornly sheltering under an umbrella at Wembley touchline during the last rites of the ill-fated England attempt to qualify for Uefa Euro 2008.
Now installed as coach Twente, "Wally with Brolly" had a chance to rebuild their tattered reputation of inflicting a shameful defeat of England one of four major. He would have taken heart from under-strength Arsenal line-up. With Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure and Samir Nasri all injured, Wenger was forced to field inexperienced team that included Denilson, 20, and Aaron Ramsey, 17, in the centre of midfield.
Twente Europe were competing in the elite club competition for the first time, but showed no signs of being overawed. They dug in the first half-chance when Romano Denneboom rose over Gael Clichy along head in the fourth minute.
Whereas Arsenal are usually intricate patterns woven around their opponents, here is the Dutch team that seemed more dangerous for a large part of the first half. Manuel Almunia was forced to race from his line to block Eljero Elia deadline, then fired wastefully over Denneboom after rising past Clichy.
The best chance of the half fell to Marko Arnautovic. Expire at Arsenal beyond the trap of confusing and had only Almunia to beat, but disappointed by a poor first touch, his shot was too close to the keeper. Wenger's side finally threatened shortly before half-time when Clichy's shot was spilled by Sander Boschker, but Bacary Sagna stems from the shooting from inside the six yard box summary of the Arsenal half.
There was much more cohesion in the Arsenal game early in the second half, yet they managed to steal the lead in the 63 th minute. Robin van Persie hit a free kick from the right and defending Twente statuesque Gallas is encrypted as the ball home from close range.
Suddenly Twente is working to rediscover their spark. Apparently, runs out of ideas as the match and led to Arsenal, while never at his best, putting the result beyond doubt in the 82 th minute. Twente defenders hopeful of a point forward Theo Walcott to reach him and went on to Adebayor, who part-footed home to get in touch with Arsenal away from the group stage.
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