It's amazing how often in football a defining strength becomes a fatal weakness, like when a hit US comedy runs three seasons more than it should and eventually manifests into a caricature of itself, lost in a world of pretentious in-jokes.

Whether that's the reality or simply my perception in the hope more poetic and theoretical analysis remains open to debate. But take Arsenal, for instance; they've been the best attacking side throughout English football during the Premier League era, yet that devotion to ambitious forward play has been as much a curse as a blessing since their last league title in 2004.

There are parallels with Chelsea, albeit at the opposite end of the spectrum, amid their miraculous slump in form. The Blues endured their eighth defeat of the season last night, losing to 10-man Stoke City in a Capital One Cup penalty shootout, and are already eleven points behind Manchester City in the league. Their title defence is already over and Jose Mourinho's primary aim for the season is now simply to avoid unemployment.

The Chelsea philosophy has become too predictable and is counter-intuitively beginning to energise their opponents. Last term, their pragmatic approach of defensive resilience combined with moments of individual attacking brilliance lead to 26 Premier League wins; this season, the Blues' reluctance to dominate, particularly with the ball, is increasing the confidence of those they face. Rather than it seeming inevitable the west Londoners will come out on top in tight-knit encounters, that self-assurance has suddenly swung to the opposition.

But perhaps more crucial than what's actually taking place on the pitch as a consequence of philosophical ideals is the mentality at Stamford Bridge right now.

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Jose Mourinho has made a career from propagandising himself and his sides as the besieged underdogs, declaring that it's not only the other team Chelsea must overcome in any given 90 minutes but also the rest of the Premier League, the media, the injustices of the Football Association, conspiratorial refereeing decisions, Arsene Wenger and pretty much any other group or individual who could potentially act against the club's interests.

The approach has some clear advantages; it increases solidarity amongst the players and the fans, it facilitates Mourinho's sides to set up in an overtly defensive manner without seeming unjustifiably negative and it allows the Portuguese to smoke screen every underwhelming result by quite simply blaming it on somebody else.

Last season it worked a treat, as it has for much of Mourinho's trophy laden career. But right now, the idea of Chelsea vs The World is causing more problems than it solves, portraying a paranoid club losing control and its grip on reality.

Certainly, select refereeing decisions have gone against Chelsea this season, whilst lady luck appears to have abandoned them in recent weeks - only in the era of goal-line technology would that goal, the ball just a centimetre away from rotating over the line, have not been given against West Ham last Saturday, for example.

But the world is not against Mourinho or Chelsea. 32 out of 40 BBC pundits backed them to become the Premier League's first title retainers since 2009 in August and countless have argued against the club sacking the Portuguese in recent weeks. The truth is that Mourinho has many admirers when he's not enduring one of his insufferable moods and the mess Chelsea currently find themselves in is, on the most part, self-created.

Blaming referee decisions is a phenomena I like to call the 'Neil Warnock margin', due to the former Sheffield United and Crystal Palace manager's ability to somehow attribute every defeat to a wrongly awarded throw-in or equally innocuous decision. Yes, it is true that split-second decisions can decide certain games. But if you're relying on the referee to make every call correctly, which is a task seemingly beyond officials working in the Premier League, then you've not done enough to put the game beyond doubt and in my opinion, you don't have much to complain about - especially over a sample of 15 games when every other team is operating under the same circumstances.

Other incidents too have contributed to the perception of a paranoid Mourinho losing control - the Eva Carneiro scandal, John Terry's half-time substitution against Manchester City, the seven-minute rant after losing to Southampton - and it's beginning to filter into the performances of those around him, typified by a five-minute meltdown during the 2-1 defeat to West Ham. A marginal offside call went against Chelsea in the 42nd minute; by half-time, Nemanja Matic, assistant manager Silvino Louro and Jose Mourinho had all been sent off by referee Jon Moss.

It's hard to tell where Mourinho goes from here, because he's a particularly proud man. He can't simply hold a press conference and tell the world he was wrong about Carneiro, Terry, Hazard, anyone else he's dropped and the countless refereeing decisions he's protested against this season, just as he can't admit he's created an identity of paranoia through his relentless skirmishes with the FA.

But clearly, the mentality of 'one of us or one of them' must change at Stamford Bridge. It's becoming increasingly unhealthy and self-perpetuating - the last thing the Blues need right now is more enemies, be they imagined or genuine. It's too simplistic to claim simply Mourinho should start accepting the blame for Chelsea's poor form because deep down he obviously does, but finally broadcasting that publicly might break the cycle of paranoia, conspiracy and misfortune the Premier League champions currently find themselves in.

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