What on earth have Arsenal become? Or what are they even trying to become? These questions cut raggedly through the cold air as Unai Emery's strange team toiled against Belarusian opponents who have been on a winter break and not played a competitive game for nine weeks.
Bate Borisov still managed to more than nullify the best this current flawed Arsenal incarnation could offer and inflict a defeat that was as worrying for its style as for the result.
In a competition that Emery is desperate to win for the dual prize of a trophy and the ticket back into Champions League, a tournament in which he has a personal history of triumph,
Arsenal suffered a chastening evening with no redeeming features. Low on creativity, high on the kind of sudden defensive lapses that cried out to be exploited for an enterprising opponent, their excursion ended with an extra blow as Alexandre Lacazette was sent off for catching Aleksandar Filipovic with an elbow.
Arsenal must buck up their ideas to salvage the tie next Thursday at the Emirates before they can begin to think more seriously about how far they are capable of going in this tournament.
It speaks volumes for the scale of change since Arsenal visited the Borisov Arena in last season's edition of the Europa League that out of the 18-man squad who came during Arsène Wenger's final campaign, only four travelled this time. Most of last season's headline players here - Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere - feel part of a different era.
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