Chelsea's problem is Jose Mourinho, and his problem is being Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho is coming to terms with not being as invincible as he thought he was

Who knew Chelsea would go through such a phase? Champions-elect since the start of the pre-season, a highly motivated group of players ready to undo their mistakes in the Champions League last year and John Terry grinning as wide as he could with a brand new contract extension; Chelsea had it all.

The press were all but certain Chelsea would retain the title. Betting gateways made merry with premature bets. Pundits were all the rave about how 'complete' the squad was and how no other team was anywhere as good as them.

Enter Jose Mourinho in his third season

The Portuguese had a relatively similar squad he had last year; he brought in a few quality additions to make sure he could compete with Manchester City. He remained smug during press conferences and boasted often of the quality of his players. Fast forward five weeks and the bright blue of Chelsea is darkened as cloudy thunderstorms hover over.

First came Swansea, a thrilling 2-2 draw overshadowed massively thanks to Mourinho's focus on his medical team than the performance. A smart move that, one not many managers – worth mentioning – would do. He took the blame away from his team entirely and went straight into his medics. That led to Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn being demoted from the first team. It eventually saw Carneiro quitting the club and taunting the FA for their less-than-well investigation into the matter.

A humiliating loss to Manchester City strengthened belief amongst many of the Mourinho naysayers that he got his one-in-one-out transfer policy completely wrong. Mourinho would go on to say that his team were the 'better team' in that fixture.

Chelsea lost 3-0 to title contenders Manchester City

A close shave with West Bromwich Albion – a team that beat them last season – once again saw Mourinho blaming the referee for not making sure Chelsea coasted through. He was glad he won the game making sure he yelled a bunch of Portuguese phrases into a nearby field-mic. Nice touch, that.

Back-to-back losses to Crystal Palace and Everton confirmed what everyone was thinking: Chelsea aren't as well-oiled as they themselves thought they were. By now, John Terry was out of the team. Carneiro was out of the club. A ‘campaign' was mentioned and continuous, unnecessary references to Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger had begun. The devil was always there but now it started peeking through the skin.

Victories against Maccabi Tel Aviv and Premier League rivals, Arsenal, gave fans something to cheer about and lifted that looming presence of the grim reaper over Mourinho. His smugness – completely invisible until now – had returned: more mentions of Arsene Wenger, more 'campaigns against Chelsea', more instances of Terry on the bench.

All the pundits – who until now didn't speak much about Chelsea because you know, who does – were back with a bang claiming how mature Chelsea's performance was against Arsenal. Not many spoke of Diego Costa and his schoolboy behaviour of taunting Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista. Costa got a 3-match ban, Gabriel’s was reversed and the 'campaign' was back on.

Diego Costa doing what he does best: emulate Mourinho on the pitch

With all due respect to Walsall, let's ignore Chelsea's victory over them for obvious reasons: no one watched it or gave a damn. The Premier League was back and Chelsea had it all to do. They went to bottom-teasers, Newcastle, and put in the best performance they could in the final 15 minutes or so to pull the game back to 2-2 after going 2-0 to an incredible resilient Geordie side.

Further losses to Iker Casillas' Porto and Southampton had Mourinho challenging his bosses to fire him – who by now would have definitely contemplated the idea of doing so. Instead, he got their support – because what else could they really say – and looked forward to bringing their season back on track.

Mourinho’s biggest problem is his idea of being the centre of the club

For a Sir Alex Ferguson or an Arsene Wenger or even an Evertonian David Moyes, that idea is right. They were – and are, in case of Wenger – the decision makers and they rightfully deserve to be given how they have served the club and ensured they got them through tough times. Mourinho could never be counted in that bracket simply because he doesn't have the charisma or the character to stay at one place for a long time and see through a project that has been carefully designed.

As Matthew Syed said in The Times, Mourinho is a terrorist to the sport. He comes into healthy clubs, makes them healthier – in a way – albeit by destroying all of the previous ground work and any aorta of public image the club has with the press, the fans and the shareholders.

He has been successful at Inter Milan, Chelsea – back then – and Real Madrid to an extent because of this ability to turn the world around his players. Making sure they were unfairly treated and thus motivating them to break that mould and perform at a level a true winner would. And as admirable as that is, it isn't going to last for long.

Both Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas have failed to make an impact for Chelsea this season

No footballer wants to play like the world is against him all the time. No footballer wants the pressure of constantly having to prove 10 times what is expected of him and no John Terry would definitely love having to sit on the bench given he had such a strong previous season ending with winning the Premiership.

Slowly but surely Mourinho is starting to realise this. He may have disguised these thoughts by saying he is going to play more youngsters or by leaving the likes of Eden Hazard and Oscar on the bench.

What seemed like a walk in the park at the start of the season is now an Amazonian adventure through the thickest of rainforests for the 'special one'. He is finally realising that the world doesn't revolve around him and that he – just like anyone else Chelsea have employed – has an expiration date.

That infamous seven-minute rant proved one thing: even the devil has feelings.

Who knew?