Talk of Jose Mourinho 'losing the dressing room' is wide of the mark for now – but it may be his next big worry at Chelsea.
For a man more expert in the human condition than probably any manager in the history of the game, he has picked fights of late that some may see as, at best, unwise.
For a man whose reputation was built on the ability to make men walk through walls, Real Madrid was the first sign that things weren't going to plan.
After winning the league first time out at Porto, Chelsea (part one) and Inter; Real was a more gradual plan for domination.
Glory came in season two, and that is where his problems began.
Fallouts with Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo saw his third season as his last – a point beyond which he has never lasted at any club by more than seven games.
At Chelsea, there were signs up until now of him being more wise in his targets.
Andre Villas-Boas, young and naive, was told to challenge 'player power' when he came to Stamford Bridge.
He took on Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, John Terry – and failed in every fight.
He failed not because they were unwinnable battles, but because he went about it like a bull in a china shop.
Following Mourinho's return, we've heard far less about 'player power' – due in the main to his more experienced, wily, domineering presence.
Mourinho has managed to sacrifice all of those sacred cows bar one – and Terry may well have sent himself a step closer to the butchers with his now rare, and quite disastrous, performance against Southampton.
But by refusing to take Oscar, Loic Remy and Radamel Falcao to Porto; yet still placing Cesc Fabregas and Branislav Ivanovic in the starting line-up; he left himself open to charges that he was scapegoating the wrong players.
These gambits are quickly forgotten if you win, but Chelsea seem to have forgotten how to do that.
Against Southampton, the public humiliation of Nemanja Matic (though Mourinho insisted this was not his intention) certainly lost the crowd.
The intake of breath from the stands was impossible to miss, and the pronouncement of displeasure clear.
Matic is a big physical presence, and one of Mourinho's chosen henchmen – having been brought back from exile by the manager for big money.
But the look on his face after becoming that rare class of player, the subbed sub, just 26 minutes after coming on, and 60 seconds after Chelsea conceded their third, was plain for all to see.
It is difficult to say which aspect of that has a greater impact on team morale: the singling out of a key player as the guilty man in front of the watching world; or the realisation that the boss is fallible, and is seeking to paper over his own cracks.
Every man who has pulled on the shirt for Mourinho will tell you the same thing – he works players harder than any other boss in the game.
With one or two notable examples, players are happy to follow that lead, because it brings trophies and scenes like the ones depicted in the gallery below.
But what happens when, despite (and perhaps because of) that work, the team lies 16th in the league, and trophies start looking a pipe dream for a side that can barely win a game against top flight opposition?
Mourinho usually says that after defeat, the next match cannot come soon enough.
But this time, the international break may be a blessing. To give all parties time to cool off, and reappraise the direction of travel.
Mourinho, more than anything, needs to regain confidence from his team that he has the roadmap for glory. Because without that he, his season, and his team really are lost.
