This week, our jog through France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain focuses on the clubs that stumbled out of the gate but have now found their feet.

by Greg Seltzer for Soccer365

This week, our jog through France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain focuses on the clubs that stumbled out of the gate but have now found feet.

As we like to do, the stories are ranked by their proximity to the title chase.

#5 - Ol' Yellow

Even though it started with them in the second flight, the last decade was pretty darn good to NAC Breda. They earned promotion in 2000, kicking off a decade that would yield six top-10 finishes, including an Eredivisie bronze medal from 2008.

Even when they were threatened with a pasture trip, it led to thrilling relegation playoff wins that displayed the heart of Breda's Yellow Army - but things have gone decidedly worse thus far this decade.

A 10th place finish in 2010 was followed by a slide to 13th last season, and NAC began this campaign by bagging just one point from their first five league games and taking an early exit from the Dutch Cup.

Suddenly, though, the polite southerners have become a lot more rude, winning three of four behind the emergence of young players like Omer Bayram, Kees Luijckx and Alex Schalk. Appropriately, four of their five goals in the three victories came after the hour mark.

With a win at lowly De Graafschap this weekend, NAC will have shown enough bite to get back to the best half of the table.

#4 - Bilbao-nic Play-gue

Much was expected of Athletic Bilbao this term; they ended up sixth last season, their best finish in seven seasons, and managed to hang onto star man Fernando Llorente a while longer.

Things did not go according to plan right away, however, as one of the last true locally-stacked home clubs opened winless in five. Llorente had just one strike to his name and the team had already leaked four result-changing goals past the half hour.

It may come as little surprise to learn that the Bilbao cure was found close to home. Athletic Club kicked off October with a derby raid of Real Sociedad decided by a Llorente brace, then followed up by ambushing rivals Osasuna with three first half tallies in another grudge win.

Now out of the basement, warming and another win away from the top half, the Basques will now show they can do it away from home cooking when they hit the coast to face Valencia.

#3 - Ahhh, the smell of it!

It was a summer of worry for FC Cologne supporters. To put it succinctly, they were afraid the team would stink enough to take the drop.

Before 2009, the Goats had spent six of 10 season relegated to the second flight. That's some nasty air for a club that finished in the top four 21 times from 1964 to 1992 (the last time they ended a Bundesliga season so high).

They held onto hot target Lukas Podolski this summer, but the schedule was bumpy from the go. The Cologne boys won just once in the first five games, allowing three goals or more in three of them while the star attacker logged just one goal.

Everything changed a month ago, when they embarrassed arch rivals Bayer Leverkusen with a 4-1 road win keyed by two goals from Podolski. Now, they've won three of four with him hitting five times in those victories.

The team will be standing at the gate to the top half of the Bundesliga table when they make the short trip to tackle defending champs Borussia Dortmund.

#2 - Eagle's Debt

It's pretty safe to say that Lazio fans feel owed excellence by the team. They are not fluffy bunny pet owners - those crazies expect Eagles, with talons and everything.

Last season's fifth place finish halted a dreary three-season league run that was papered over a bit by a 2009 Coppa Italia win. But the fans knew things had not been right and last season was much more to their demanding tastes.

After flirting with the top for much of last term, Lazio opened the new campaign with a decent enough draw result at AC Milan before falling at home to Genoa.

Stumble aside, the Aquilotti are flying again. After last weekend's thrilling derby win over AS Roma, Lazio have won three of an unbeaten four.

Another good sign as they head to Bologna? In all three victories, playmaker Hernanes and striker Miroslav Klose each scored.

#1 - C'est la vie... finalement!

When Paris Saint Germain splashed bazillions of dollars this offseason, local fans and observers felt it was just a matter of time before the City of Lights would be aglow with title excitement for the first time since 1994.

That said, they may not have expected it to happen quite so quickly - especially after picking up one point form the first two matches.

Since then, PSG have won four straight and seven of eight (with a late road rally draw thrown in) to reach the summit for the first time since opening day last season.

The best part of it all is the way glitzy summer buys Kevin Gameiro and Javier Pastore have taken over. The latter leads the Ligue 1 with eight goals through 10 games, with all but one coming during the current unbeaten streak.

Pastore - who was a real bank breaker coming over from Palermo - has five goals and two assists during the same span, ensuring that at least one of the two had scored in all eight games.

Already clear at the top, PSG can put some fancy mustard on their status when Dijon comes to town this weekend.