Bonjola! Six weeks have come and gone and it’s time to get back to civilisation. I haven’t even loaded the game since we last spoke, but I have seen two kids through the summer holidays, which summarises how my life has changed over the past 10 years since starting this blog.

Anyway, this save. Sporting Gijon were rubbish in 1997 but 5 seasons later we are champions of Spain. Time to refamiliarise ourselves with what we’re here for.

Winning the league is one thing but as ever, we want to win the Champions League. We’ve only had one attempt at it so far.

Progress has generally been apparent, the leap from 62 points to 90 points was pretty impressive.

Our hero is of course Ibrahima Bakayoko.

The squad is strong but a little on the small side. Some of the loan players will likely spend some time in the B Squad.

Speaking of the B Squad, the other objective which is perhaps a little fanciful is for this lot to win the Copa del Rey, win the Cup Winners Cup and we’ll play off in the Super Cup as Gijon rule the world. That may take some work. Freund is Klinsmann and probably ready for the first team but he’d need to be very adequately replaced.

Ortega was available on a free and despite his wages of £50k per week, he’s going in the B Team. That’ll be a big boost for them, although it will cripple them financially.

A pair of Portufreebies. Figo is going to the B Team. I’ll have a look at Paulinho Santos as I’d like another central midfield option.

So close to a clean sweep in the awards. Do I promote Freund?

I wanted a fourth centre half and this recommended youth fits the bill nicely. Any idea who he is the regen of?

It’s an inauspicious start to the season as we lose the first leg of the Spanish Charity Shield. Thankfully the Spanish believe charity begins at home for both clubs, so we’ll get the chance to overturn the deficit in a week.

We do, but only just. At 3-0 up, Atleti get the goal they need to take us to extra time, before Alex Martin settles it. Losing two players to fortnight long injuries is less than ideal.

This was not in the script. We are so rarely beaten at home. How did it come to this?

Ah yes, this is how. It’s a good old fashioned Champing.

Points are put on the board away at Albacete to get us up and running.

Milan AND Man Utd? That is harsh.

We trail for a long time at Toledo before we have a special half time talk and rattle four in to bring back some sort of composure.

Home victory over Mallorca confirms we are back in the saddle.

Or is it a false dawn? We struggle to create clear chances against Valencia before getting hit twice when over committing late on. Not good.

This point at Old Trafford feels like it will prove to be an important one.

As will this at Barcelona. Freund has had the call up to the big leagues and he makes his debut from the bench to net the equaliser.

It’s deadline day and I decide to buy this defender. I should know better. His stats are class but he’s 30 and in the French league.

Another stuttering home display as we draw 0-0 with the sometimes mighty Real Madrid. They are on the wane so this is probably a poor result.

Big win here as Milan are beaten.

It’s one step forward, two steps back at the minute. Just when I feel we’ve steadied the ship back to our brilliant best we throw in this abomination of a performance.

The brass neck on this lot man. To score 5 after all our struggles. Paulinho Santos has proven a shrews freebie.

Hajduk Split are the whipping boys of the group and they barely lay a glove on us.

So far so good at the half way stage.

We’ll finish this update with a solid away win. Much needed.

That leaves us 6th, only 4 points off the top which is remarkable given we’ve dropped points in half of our games.

The B Team are somehow only second despite the riches I have given them.

They’re also needing a minor miracle to keep themselves in the Copa, trailing after the first leg. World domination might have to wait.

An interesting start to the season. Sometimes it feels like the game feels your team needs knocking down a peg or two and your players start underperforming, which is probably down to being complacent. I guess it could happen. There is definitely an argument that the formation can “go off” but I’m not keen to deviate away just yet.

Still, all to play for and I’ll hope to see you all next week for more of the same. It’s good to be back!