Wednesday 18 December 2013

Manchester City 6-3 Arsenal [The Armoury, Sydney]

I was in Sydney, one of the world's great cities, for Saturday's big one against Etihad Rovers. Having watched the mid-week defeat to Napoli at Luke Wurthman's house in Manly, it was only right that I took a trip to the Sydney Gooner's official home at 'The Armoury' to watch this important clash.

Sydney Gooners at 'The Armoury'
Not only was there a big top-of-the table duel to watch, Elia Eliopoulou (the man behind the Sydney supporters group) also organised a big fundraiser for my visit. More than 300 Gooners gathered at The Armoury for this game, mostly because of the importance, but also because the game was being aired at midnight local time, an 'early' game for those on the east coast of Australia.  There was a big opportunity here so Elia arranged a raffle, and in total the Sydney Gooners managed to raise more than AUD $2000 for my cause. So well done Elia and the rest of the crew for a storming effort! It's a shame that the game didn't go as smoothly.

The Sydney Gooners going mental after Walcott's equaliser. Shame it didn't last.

It's hard to take positives out of such a bad result. Going into this game, Man City had only conceded two goals at the Middle Eastlands for the season to date.

Temporarily happy Gooners.
But we put five past them in ninety minutes on Saturday, even if two of them were (wrongly) ruled offside. What does that tell you about this Arsenal team? It tells you we have the tools to score against the best. It also tells you that we're not spending enough money on bribing match officials.

So, six goals conceded, a likely match ban for Wilshere, and news of us drawing Bayern Munich in the next round of the Champions League. It's been a tough few days, but hey, at least Tottenham are looking for a new manager. AV-Believe! Yeah. Haha.

COYG