Guten tag! It’s Friday, and time for a trip to Germany to catch up with Nick and his RB Leipzig side, who have started season seven well. But with league games against most of teams around them and a UEFA Cup clash against a familiar foe, can they keep it up?..

Here’s how things stand at the minute. We’re currently fourth after ten games, which is nice, but totally irrelevant at this stage.

Newly-promoted Chemnitz are up first. We find ourselves 3-0 up at half time after an ice man brace and one from Arzeno on his first start after an injury to Clausen. A goal a piece in the second half makes the final score 4-1.

We’re 3-0 up at half time for the second game running against Cottbus, as Arzeno makes it two goals in as many matches. A second half goal from Carrete finishes them off, and we keep our first clean sheet in three games.

To Europe, and it’s a great start at Valladolid as Arzeno scores yet again, and Leonidas makes it 2-0 at half time. Penksa gets a third, and although I’m annoyed at giving away two cheap late goals, three away goals are nice.

It’s an easy enough win against Berlin in the cup, with a brace from ice man no. 2, and one from Leonidas. Berlin cause us problems, and our keeper, Binz is man of the match, but we advance to face Leverkusen in the quarters.

We scrap for a draw after going 2-0 down at Bochum. They have always been a thorn in our side, and they’re still causing us problems from sixteenth place in the table. Big Dunc was our saviour today, with a goal and 10/10 rating.

Against Bayern, we do all the attacking in the first half but have nothing to show for it. Batigol Jr eventually gives us the lead, and we stave off a battering for the last ten minutes to hold on for a fully-deserved win.

Back in Europe, it’s a good start again, and we lead at half time. There’s shades of the Ajax game as it goes 2-2, but we hang on after they have about a dozen corners in a row, and we’re through to play our old pals, Schalke.

Clausen returns against Freiburg, who are a tough nut to crack, but we lead from the spot. The iceman doubles our lead before another from Leonidas. The win sends us top after Bielefeld lose, and we play them next.

Arsenal are back in for Clausen, and this time the bid is £18.5m, which is the biggest I’ve ever seen and received on this game. No deal.

I’ve never seen Bielefeld involved in a top of the table clash, but here we are. We hit two goals in quick succession to deservedly lead at the break. Clausen gets a second and Bielefeld pull one back, but it’s three more points for us.

Zwickau keep us at bay for half an hour, but Clausen opens the scoring after they Falter to a red card. The iceman makes it 2-0 at the start of the second half, and Clausen gets two more to complete his hat trick, and the rout.

It feels weird playing Schalke in Europe, and even weirder going 2-0 down. We manage not to concede in the second half, but it’ll take some performance at their place to turn this around. That was our first loss in 18 games.

I start to make preparations for next season, and let Bjorn’s regen join Rosenborg to free up a squad space. Onopko II also leaves for Kaiserslautern, but only on loan, I’ll need him.

After an injury to Wedau, I’m already one left back down at Karlsruhe, and then Gravesen gets injured. We have a goal ruled out on 37 minutes, and it’s a frustrating draw in which we had three times as many chances as them.

We start well at Dortmund and take the lead, but Revault is up to his old tricks, saving five more shots, and they predictably equalise. We batter them in the second half, and despite twenty shots, we can’t score, and there’s no prizes for guessing who’s man of the match.

With the Thaiphoon transfer listed, and the Iceman seemingly off at the end of the season, I continue rebuilding, and sign Davor Suker’s regen for just £54k.

It’s a frustrating first half against Leverkusen, but after eleven shots we finally lead. It looks like a comeback is on the cards at 3-2, but a timely intervention by Clausen secures the points, and we’re back to winning ways.

Both my strikers are suspended for the second leg with Schalke, so Vilhjalmsson and Batigol Jr start up front. Despite leading 2-1 at half time and having several good chances in the second half, we can’t find a third, and go out.

So, we’re top of the league at the winter break, four clear of Dortmund and eight clear of Bayern, but it’s 1860 Munich, who are a point behind with two games in hand, who we need to be wary of. I’m definitely not complaining, but we’ve been here before, so I’m not getting carried away or counting any hähnchens yet.

So that wraps up another week. We might be out of Europe, but all seems to be going swimmingly on the domestic front. Tune in next week for the season finale, as we face nine of the eleven sides below us, which is sure to be good fun. Tschüss!