That season I was worried only once , but I had no doubt that we're going to finish ahead, simply due to the sheer resilience, quiet up, and do the job like we always do in the past.
Rafa's digging his own demise with that rant, you say that when you win the league, but instead he took a gamble with messing with SAF's mind... it was us vs chelsea and them vs stoke IIRC? And the draws against the stokes might have just been another draws and us winning is just another win, but because of the said FATCH previously, it spirals into a big snowball and have the knock on effect.
I don't think deep inside Rafa ever recover from that blunder, he might not say it, but he sure looks stupid to himself time and time again, and perhaps that creates a sense of stubborness in a destructive way.