Despite being the victim of a vast conspiracy involving everyone from referees to ball boys, Jose Mourinho still led Chelsea to their third Premier League title together and first since his return to the club. Naturally, attempts to destroy someone do not end simply because they fail. Instead, they in scope and complexity. And after the first match of the season, this is already evident.

The shadow dwelling conspirators knew that there was only one man who could take down Jose Mourinho and that’s Jose Mourinho. In June, they convinced Jose Mourinho to sell Jose Mourinho’s spare world-class goalkeeper to Arsenal, giving one of Chelsea’s closest title rivals an unthinkable boost.

Without a club legend like Cech waiting impatiently on the bench and always keeping him on his toes, Thibaut Courtois revealed his corruptibility by deciding he was now free to play like Wojciech Szczesny, the gaffe-prone keeper Cech replaced at Arsenal. He wasted no time in demonstrating this during Chelsea’s Premier League opener against Swansea by coming way off his line to kick out at Bafetimbi Gomis, earning himself a red card in the 52nd minute of what would be a disappointing 2-2 draw at home.

As a result of the red card, Courtois gets an automatic one-match ban that will keep him out of Chelsea’s trip to the Etihad to face another title rival in Man City. This obviously is no coincidence. Nor is it the limit to the effort to sabotage Chelsea from within.

Late in the match against Swansea, Chelsea’s medical staff rushed to treat Eden Hazard, limiting the champions’ attempt to salvage a win even further. From the BBC:

The Blues, who had keeper Thibaut Courtois sent off, were down to nine men for a period after staff ran on to treat Hazard following a trip, despite him not appearing to be badly injured.

If a player receives treatment, they must leave the field.

“I was unhappy with my medical staff. They were impulsive and naive,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.

“Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game.

“You have to know you have one player less and to assist a player you must be sure he has a serious problem. I was sure Eden did not have a serious problem. He had a knock. He was tired.”

Was Mourinho actually accusing his medical staff of hurting the team or was he just feigning anger to hide his own involvement in the campaign against himself? At this point, the conspiracy runs so deep that it’s impossible to know. All we can say for sure is that Jose Mourinho is going to have to defeat the synchronized efforts of everyone, including himself, if he is to retain the title this season.