Welcome back to the beginning of season four of our merry little adventure with the Clarets.  After back to back promotions we made it to the Premier League and season three saw us challenging at the top of the table, ultimately falling short to Man Utd but finishing a very respectable second and qualifying for Europe’s premier club competition.

I spent the end of season three and the start of season four strengthening the squad.  Unfortunately, Brazilian and Bulgarian players fall under the FGN rule, so I can field only three in the match day squad. The Belgians don’t seem as interested as I expected them to be so the majority of the squad is made up of Irish players.  I am of course using the Bene & Hot rule to full effect and maxing out my three wild cards who are all French.  With all that said I pick up a few unfamiliar names with very familiar stats.

Ricardinho = Julio Cesar

Ambrosi = JPP

Vandenbergh = Belgian guy

Daish = Tactics Townsend

Gintchev = El Pistolero

With the introductions out of the way we begin our campaign hosting FC Flora Tallinn in the Champions League first round.  Cup competitions have been our kryptonite so far, however that usually doesn’t kick in until the third round, so if we can get past Tallinn the group format should suit us.  Dangerous Dave is on fire scoring all the goals in a very straightforward win

Our first league game is the clash of the clarets, we host Villa and pack out the newly expanded Turf Moor.  In a close game, we take the lead, lose the lead and recover to draw, it’s not the best start to the season as both our CM’s get injured as well.

I try something different in the game against Boro, in an effort to allow Ambrosi into the match day squad I put young Belgian De Meersman in goal.  Suffice to say, it was an error and despite the stats showing the game to be quite close the scoreline showed something quite different.

Johnny Candles comes back into the team for the game against Bury.  This time we dominate the match but just cannot score a second goal!  The Turf Roar of the first match seems likes a distant memory already.

For some reason, I forgot to document the second leg of our Champions League qualifier, fortunately we were able to take advantage of our 5-0 lead and make it through to Group B.

I love the way this game calculates Manager of the Month, we’ve drawn two and lost 0-5 away, but because we qualified for the Champions League they make me manager of the month! 

With the Manager of the month trophy proudly on display in the dressing room official Wiki rivals Leeds visit the Moor and we finally manage to get a league win as Pistols Petko (Gintchev) gets his first goal for the club.

De Souza has been excellent so far this season, scoring three goals from midfield and providing the creative spark.  He’s at it again at the McAlpine, along with Pistols Petko, it’s another 3-2 win and another come from behind victory.

We seem to be starting to find our feet again as De Souza and Pistols score again.  The defence step up too, a first clean sheet of the season.

What I thought might be a tricky tie against Rosenborg in our first Champions League group match turns out to be the opposite.  A great first proper night in Europe at the Moor, as the Clarets roar past Rosenborg.

Despite mounting a mini revival of late, I’m not optimistic when we head to Old Trafford. In the end the result was to be expected, their keeper Matteo Guardalben with an MOM display.

We head to the Stadium of Light, hoping to bounce back, but our finishing is shocking, two shots on target in twelve attempts means it’s back to back loses.

It looks like the home game against Spurs is going to end in a disappointing draw despite a dominant display at the Moor.  However Dangerous Dave, who has been very quiet since scoring five against Tallinn, pops up just before the end, with his first league goal of the season. 

Our second Champions League match is away to Ajax, Pistols gives us an early lead at the Arena only for Ajax to score two goals in six minutes. Fortunately, a minute after they take the lead Jaap brings Pistols down in the box and gets a straight red, Petko smashes home the spot kick before Mr Consistency, Alessandro De Souza nets a deserved winner, what a game, what a night!.

Johnny Candle’s injury against Ajax means De Meersman is back in goal for the first time since our 5-0 loss to Boro.  It would be unfair to blame him for the result against Wednesday, we were truly awful, but since he was the only change that was made, I blame him, nevertheless.

After a two week gap due to the international break we are back at the Moor against another wiki rival.  Blackburn can’t even manage a shot on target, however Alan Fettis is in fine form for the visitors and we can only manage a 1-0 win thanks to Scully T, who rarely gets a game these days. A win is a win though, so we take what we can get.

Our third Champions League match is away to Monaco, I don’t have high hopes for this one, however we play out little socks off to make it three wins in three, our League form is shocking but we are flying in the Champions League.

After the highs in the south of France comes the lows in the north east of England.  We dominate another game but fail to score and Marc Rieper makes us pay!  Not the best way to end the episode, but quite typical of our League form so far.

After twelve league games we sit in 8th place, won five, lost five, drawn two, fortunately there are only three points between 8th and 4th, so hopefully, if we can put a little run together we might be able to fight our way out of mid table obscurity.  And we are looking solid in the Champions League, with two home ties left to play.

Join is next week to see if we can start scoring more feely, stop conceding so freely and make it to the quarter finals of the Champions League.