Hello, and welcome back for part 2. Last week the CM01/02 Aces returned from their holidays and had a good pre-season, winning 3 of their 4 friendlies, and now we’ll see whether those wins were good preparation as the competitive games begin.

A couple of quick pieces of news before we head to the first match, as AC Milan beat Lazio 4-0 to win the super cup, and we welcome back Arjen Robben from injury.

First up it’s Castel Di Sangro in the second round of the Coppa Italia. We know them very well after facing them in Serie B last season, where we drew 1-1 and won 4-0. Castel were relegated at the end of last season, so they’re now two divisions below us in Serie C, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be an easy match, and just by being in Serie A, we’ve already made it further than last season, when we lost at home to Cesena in the first round.

We’re almost at full-strength, with Okoronkwo in for the injured West the only change. We’re 2-0 up in 10 minutes thanks to Madeira and Selakovic. I’m expecting goals aplenty after such a great start, but to my surprise, the score remains the same until half time. I’m weary of the hosts scoring as I know how quickly a match can turn in this game, so I’m relieved when Tsigalko gets our third on 57. Castel score on 69, but we show no signs of letting up and it ends 3-1.

Our prize is a tie against Roma or Napoli, which is a slight step up in opposition, but I’m not afraid to take on the big boys with my fearless bunch. We may have only played one competitive match so far, but that doesn’t stop the board telling me that they’re delighted with my performance, which I’ll take.

We kick off our league campaign with a trip to Bergamo to face Atalanta, who have quite a few good players on CM01/02, so my boys should know what they’re up against. Among their summer signings was future Blackburn striker Corrado Grabbi, who hopefully won’t be grabbing any goals today. Duff is out for a couple of weeks with a thigh strain, so Okoronkwo moves to right back, and Klompe partners Hofland.

It’s a rather uneventful first half an hour, but then Atalanta quickly go 2-0 up. Madeira gives us hope, but then Klompe brings down Anaclerio in the box and it all kicks off big time. A brawl ensues, with both players sent off, and Lucarelli tucks away the penalty to make it 3-1 at the break.

I issue the hairdryer treatment at half time, and it appears to have worked when Madeira makes it 3-2 just past the hour. I had been playing 4-3-2 after Klompe’s sending off, but this becomes 4-2-2 after Selakovic also sees red.

This has been a feisty affair, and the playing field is levelled once again on 80 minutes as Atalanta receive their second red card, and substitute Lundén secures us a point with 4 minutes remaining. If this game is anything to go by, we should be in for anything but a dull season, wow!

Things don’t get any easier, as we welcome the mighty Juventus next. The old lady’s shopping basket was filled over the summer, with Rio Ferdinand, Paolo Maldini, and Enrico Chiesa among the arrivals. In Basque Boys, I found that sacrificing a striker to play an extra centre back worked a treat against Barcelona, so I start with that formation here, with fit-again West returning for Okoronkwo, and Klompe coming in for Tsigalko.

Juve fly out of the traps, but we keep them at bay and seem to be playing great, and Madeira gives us a deserved half time lead. We continue to play well in the second half, and our cause is further helped by a Christian Wörns own goal on the hour. Peruzzi is normally almost impossible to score against, but he’s obviously never come up against the Aces before! We hold on for a famous win.

The board say it’s a very good result, and we even make the shock defeat headline, so obviously no one gave us a prayer here.

Lazio fire in a couple of bids for Frey and Lundén, but they’re hastily rejected, and Roma beat Napoli in the cup, so it’s the Giallorossi who we’ll be facing in the next round.

So, on to the next game, and it’s an away trip to Cagliari, who were promoted with us from Serie B, and have had a very busy summer, making 9 signings. I stick with the extra centre back formation, but Klompe and Selakovic are suspensed, so Risp and Lundén are in. Kerr hasn’t been great so far, so Källström starts in midfield. It looks to be goalless after a fairly even first half, but Aghahowa scores just before the whistle.

Cagliari waste little time in equalising early in the second half, and turn the game around just past the hour. I switch back to the regular formation on 76, with Tsigalko on for Risp, but we’re unable to find an equaliser, and it’s a frustrating result after the high of last week. I think I’ll save the extra centre back formation for against the bigger sides.

Anyway, I don’t like to dwell on defeats so on to the next match we go, and Bologna are next to visit the Sports Interactive Stadium. They still have Roberto Baggio up front, and Swedish ace Jesper Ljung is on the bench. I revert back to the standard 2-3-1-2-2 for this match, with Tsigalko back in for Risp, and Mike Duff also returns for Prutton after injury.

Tsigalko clearly feels that he has a point to prove, and he smashes in a brace inside the first half an hour. With things looking rosey, I’m hoping for a similarly dominant second half, but we waste a few chances and Bologna pull a goal back midway through the half. We continue to create, but fail to convert, and Bologna snatch a last-minute equaliser to punish our wastefulness.

Although it’s two points dropped and I’m annoyed, I’m also quick to remember how many late goals we scored last season, so I can’t grumble too much.

We’re back on the road now, and it’s Sampdoria. They’ve made 5 summer signings, but prize asset Giuseppe Signori left for Inter Milan after scoring 20 goals last season. They do still have Mihajlovic, Veron, Carboni, and Montella in their side however. We’re unchanged from the Bologna draw.

It’s always nice to draw first blood, but despite Aghahowa opening the scoring on 5 minutes, I’m still expecting a tough game, but what I and a stadium of over 50,000 are about to witness is just unbelievable. Madeira doubles our lead shortly before a Tsigalko brace, and then Madeira gets two more of his own to make it 6-0 at half time.

It’s very rare I don’t know what to say in my half time team talk, but I just tell the boys not to take their feet off the gas and get complacent because we’re so far in front. The second half doesn’t quite match the first, but we do get one more goal, with Madeira getting his fourth and our seventh not long past the hour, and we record the best result in our brief history.

The Aces are causing a stir, and we get our second shock defeat headline of the season. The board say it’s a superb result, I should think so too!

In other news, Kevin Keegan is named Sunderland manager, which will go down well with Newcastle fans, N’Diaye is out for a couple of weeks with a stubbed toe, and the board are delighted with my performance, which I’ll never get tired of hearing.

Next we welcome high-flying Lazio, who have won all five of their matches while only conceding one goal, so this is sure to be a test. Despite the rout over Sampdoria, I go with an extra centre back, with Klompe in for Tsigalko once again. Said is in for N’Diaye, and Selakovic also returns, so Lundén drops back to central midfield.

It’s goalless at the break, and Lazio are down to 10 men after Serena’s red card. We’ve been the better side, with 4/5 shots on target, and we’ve limited Lazio to just 1/4 on target, but they have had 7 corners. We absolutely batter them in the second half, but just can’t seem to beat an inspired Luca Marchegiani, who ends up with 9/10, but man of the match goes to Lazio centre back Giovanni Lopez, who had 10/10. An honourable mention also to Mike Duff, who also had 10.

So despite being unable to make the extra man count, we’re still the first team to take anything from Lazio, so I’m pleased with the result.

No sooner has he returned from injury, Labinot Harbuzi is ruled out for a few more weeks with a damaged shoulder, but N’Diaye returns following his short lay-off.

Next up is our first visit to the San Siro to face the red half of Milan. They have made some great signings, raiding Juventus for Torricelli and Inzaghi, they’ve also signed Ravanelli from Marseille, and also Dino Baggio from Parma. They are 3rd in the table, but only 3 points above us. I stick with the extra centre back, and it seems to work in the first half, as it’s all square after Madeira replies to Savicevic’s opener.

As against Lazio, we were the better side in the first half, and I’m hoping that bodes well for the second, but we find ourselves 4-1 down after Luca Toni and Patrick Kluivert increase the Rossineri’s lead. This prompts me to throw caution to the wind and go back to two up front, so Tsigalko is on for Klompe. It seems to have an instant impact as Madeira pulls one back, but sadly that’s as good as it gets.

So after 7 games we sit 9th in the table, and I’m not too disappointed with the start we’ve made. The loss to Cagliari and draws with Atalanta and Bologna were disappointing, but we’ve taken some points off some of the big sides and haven’t looked out of place in this division, which is good because I chose Italy because I wanted to test the Aces.

So that’s it for this week, join us next week where we’ll face Roma in the next round of the cup, and hopefully continue to cause upsets and make headlines in the league.