Bom Dia! and welcome to season six with Nick and his squad of Portuguese Wolves. After getting to the Premiership at the third time of asking, they’ve finished 4th and 11th and got to the UEFA Cup semis, so what will this season hold in store? Over to Nick…

Here’s our Graham with a quick reminder of the squad before we get into the action. After the disappointment of last season, I bought some fullbacks over the summer in the hope that a change in formation might mean a change in fortunes. So, let’s get started…

Here’s how we line up for our first match away to Everton. The change in shape costs Pinto his place in midfield, and Ricardo is the victim of going from 3 centre backs to 2, but Anselmo impressed out on loan last season, so as promised, he partners Torrão in the centre, and Veiga starts the season as number one…

Everton haven’t been my favourite team during this blog, but we manage to overcome them in a trademark 2-3-1-2-2 opening game, which sees 7 goals, a penalty and a red card. But more importantly, three points for us!

The following Wednesday, we’re at home… To Wednesday, who have also made a winning start. Once again there’s plenty of goals and I give it Myall, but this time the points are shared. This game can be a real Cowe at times.

The draw for the second round of the League Cup is made, and we draw some first division minnows from London…

Our first defeat of the season comes at Elland Road. We’re behind after 5 minutes, and were it not for Veiga, it would be loads more, but in the end we’re soundly beaten by the ex-Serie A contingent and that bloody Cassin bloke again.

Abel Xavier was one of the shining lights for us last season, and has been pretty much brilliant since we signed him. Fulham are frustrating us once again, but Abel puts an end to their antics, and grabs us all 3 points…

If Chelsea signing Mickael Landreau was frustrating, then Man Utd signing Richard Wright is just as bad. We’re kept in the game by the ref disallowing 2 goals before Alfonso finally finds the net for a deserved United win.

But we’re immediately back to life against a struggling West Ham side, as Coelho gets his first goal of the season, and JP gets his 5th in a much-needed emphatic win over The Hammers to move us up a few places to 7th…

Coventry are another team I’ve come to despise in this save, mainly due to Magnus f*cking Hedman, and he’s up to his old tricks again as we can’t capitalise on being the better side. On the plus side, it’s another clean sheet.

League Cup time, and I expected Arsenal to be walking division one, but they’re currently 7th. Petit, Bergkamp and Owen have all stayed, and we have to battle back from 2-0 down to give ourselves a chance in the second leg…

Back in the league it’s a third clean sheet in a row as we outsmart the foxes, but we have to ride a late storm in which Veiga pulls off several important saves to earn us the points. I knew there was a reason why I wanted him…

Spanish transfer deadline day arrives, and it’s looking like it was a good decision to snap up Alexandre before the big boys got in there…

Landreau is single-handedly keeping it goalless against Chelsea, and they predictably go ahead, but an uncharacteristic fumble from the Frenchman lets us back in it, and then JP finishes the job with 8 minutes remaining…

We strike first blood in the second leg with Arsenal, but I’m well aware that we’re in the sh*t if they score. They eventually do find the net, but luckily it’s after Pauleta’s second, and we just about make it through to face Stoke…

We take the lead against Liverpool and hold onto it for as long as we can, but they turn up the pressure towards the end, and even when we think we’ve salvaged a point, Dominic Matteo of all people steals his side the points…

With JP injured, Alexandre makes his long-awaited first appearance of the season at Sheffield United, and wastes little time in announcing himself. We’re helped by a red card, and Pauleta seals it as we march on…

We get revenge on Bolton for the 4-0 thrashing they handed us at the end of last season. But it seems our attackers need a demonstration on how to score a goal from our defence before eventually joining in the fun themselves…

Last up this week is an all-action League Cup tie at Stoke, where we fight back from 2-0 and 3-2 down to force extra time and pens, where Veiga is the hero, saving two, and setting it up for young centre back, Anselmo to cover himself in glory by converting the crucial kick and send us through by the skin of our teeth…

Where we’ll face Division 2 Wycombe…

And finally… Here’s Trev with another random transfer. It’s not every day you see a CM01/02 icon flash up on a 97/98 transfer news screen, so let’s take a minute to appreciate one of the super Swedes, Stefan Selakovic…

So, here’s the table after the first twelve games. It’s a decent enough start, and the change in formation definitely seems to have helped. But last season we saw how a few bad results can see you quickly plummet down the table, so I’m not getting carried away just yet…

So that’s season six off and running, and thank you if you’ve been following this story from day one, your support is always appreciated!

Having already reached the FA Cup final and UEFA Cup semi finals, I genuinely believe that we are capable of winning a trophy, so maybe this may finally be our year. See you next week. Adeus!