In the dead of night a figure stepped out of the shadows. He had come to take back what was rightfully his and leave his calling card. Over the metal fence and beyond the watchful eye of the CCTV cameras he went, tiptoeing silently towards the building, getting ever closer. And that was when he got caught. The security guard spotted him and moved swiftly, sprinting through the darkness, grabbing at the figure and reaching for the cuffs. A confrontation ensued and the figure let out a cry: "It's me, it's me! Javi Martínez!"

That is one version of the story. The other is a little less heroic: it has Martínez ringing the doorbell first but getting no answer, slipping through a gap by the gate, and getting stopped by the security guard – more bloke with a torch than gallant defender of the fort – who, to Martínez's surprise was not the normal bloke at Athletic Bilbao's Lezama training ground; if he had been, he would have known who the former Athletic midfielder was. And he would not have demanded some ID.

Either way, it was late, it was dark, and he should not have been there. No one knew he was coming and they were not pleased that he had. Eventually, Martínez collected a pair of boots, left a message on the tactics board for his former team-mates and departed, boarding a plane back to Bayern Munich. If he hoped to slip away into the night without out anyone noticing, the plan backfired spectacularly. Instead, this became another surreal episode in a surreal season for Athletic, another set of questions, more mystery – what's so special about the boots? Why couldn't he have come during the day? What's he got to hide? – and another of those moments that underlined an inescapable, nagging realisation: something just isn't right in Bilbao.

Including the team. Especially the team. Lezama has gone from spiritual home to crime scene. First there was the fight. Then came the failed escape bid, Martínez going to Germany, Fernando Llorente failing to go to Italy. Then the break in. And then the worst part of all: the secret recordings.

At the end of last season, Marcelo Bielsa gathered his players together in the wake of their defeat in the finals of the Europa League and the Copa del Rey. The speech was recorded and, four long months later, released to the media. Two different media, in fact. First came a clip, then the entire conversation. In the speech, Bielsa admits that he cannot explain how Athletic played so badly in both finals: you can lose, he tells his players, but not the way you lost. He calls his footballers "premature millionaires" and says that they have let down supporters, people who have "walked from Madrid." And yet, he says, "you allow yourselves to laugh."

"You're going to go a long time, a very long time, before you get the chance for revenge [for the finals]," he tells them. "You'll remember what I'm telling you and I repeat: it's not about winning, it is about how we lost. The journey was extraordinary, because you played some extraordinary games, truly extraordinary ones, but this eclipses all that and the darkest thing of all is not knowing why. I think it's unacceptable, lads, to mobilise an entire people and then disappoint a people; to not be up to the illusion that you generated, because I am truly ashamed of having let down the fans of Athletic Bilbao. Don't lose sight of that, lads, because we let them down."

Stories always filter out, but this felt different somehow, almost sinister. There were too many questions. Who records a coach's speech in the first place? Worse, how could there be at least two people doing so? And why? Why then take it to the media? And why did it take so long? What were they waiting for? Their moment? The backdrop invited even more questions: the tense relationship between Bielsa and some of the players, a handful of whom left in the summer (the first theories pointed at those who had since departed); the confrontation between Bielsa and the club over his fight with the works chief at Lezama (the second recording was leaked to a newspaper very close to the board); and Bielsa's doubts over his own future (was the coach or his entourage looking for an excuse to walk?).

At first the intention seemed to be to discredit the coach but Bielsa actually comes out of the conversations pretty well. The tone is paternal rather than ranty and the conversation is fascinating because it offers a glimpse of how Bielsa works and talks to his players, not because of any specific accusations: the interest lies in discourse, not salaciousness.

Also, Bielsa takes the blame: "You train like animals for 10 days, you obeyed and did everything that I asked you to do," he tells his players. "I am responsible." Although the message, from a players' perspective, underlines how wearing it can be to work with Bielsa, it is one fans embrace: identification and representation demands application and shame in defeat: Bielsa refers to Athletic's fans as "an extraordinary people" and tells the players "you are those people."

Even the criticism – premature millionaires laughing despite defeat – is delivered evenly, slowly, in the monotone familiar from press conferences. It is explanation rather than rejection. Whose interests does it really serve to publish the conversation? Not the team's, that's for sure. Athletic have now lost three games in a week. Last year's runners-up, they are bottom of their Europa League group with a solitary point. They are a solitary point off the relegation zone in the league too. "Our position in the table does not correspond with the human resources at our disposal or the size of the institution," Bielsa said.

Sometimes the easy equation that off-field problems equals on-field failure is back to front; sometimes it is on-field failure that brings off-field problems to the fore. Cause-effect is not so clear cut, 'consequences' can in fact be cause. But it all contributes and it is impossible to divorce the two: there is an uneasiness that pervades everything. There is no escaping the sense of dysfunction. There is little of the intensity, the sense of mission, that there was last season. When they were defeated by Getafe on Sunday, there was a strange quiet around San Mamés. At the end of last season, players were running on empty. There were players that needed painkilling injections to make it to the two finals, it has emerged. Llorente was struggling with his back, Ander Herrera ended up being operated on and has been sorely missed, Andoni Iraola was unable to go to Euro 2012.

Emotionally there is fatigue too. Bielsa's decision to only take those who were actually playing to the Cup final was challenged by the players and overturned. This season they set off on a Sunday morning and returned late on a Friday night: a week away for just two games. Bielsa considered it necessary; the players did not. Llorente's attempted departure for Juventus was damaging too: rather than sell him, Athletic stood firm. Now he will leave on a free at the end of the season. Having kept him, you might as well use him. Bielsa, mostly, has not. He sent Llorente from the training field during one session in which he considered the striker was not making sufficient effort; Llorente's interpretation is rather different of course.

But it is at the other end that they have struggled the most. Away from home, Athletic have conceded four, three, two and three. Only Rayo Vallecano and Deportivo La Coruña have conceded more in total this season, largely thanks to letting in seven and 10 respectively against Barcelona and Real Madrid. Athletic face them both in the next month. Martínez's departure did not just leave an emotional scar, with the club threatening legal action against Bayern and Martínez sneaking round at Lezama, it also denied Athletic their most important centre-back. On Sunday Carlos Gurpegui was carried off injured.

But it is not just about that either. On the opening day of the season they lost 5-3 to Real Betis at home. Last week, Athletic produced their best performance so far but conceded two in the last five minutes to lose to Valencia. This week was different, and the suspension of Herrera did not help, but the sense of vulnerability remains: Athletic lost 2-1 to Getafe, and their one, scored by Mikel San José, came in the 94th minute. Getafe could have had four. A better team might have done. "Getafe's attack is not so difficult as to score so many goals," Bielsa said.

Talking points

• "My face would fall off with shame if we played like Celtic did against Barcelona," said Rayo coach Paco Jemez as he promised to attack. They lost 5-0.

• Five for Madrid, five for Barcelona. Are the big two settling into that routine again? Two for Lionel Messi, two for Cristiano Ronaldo. The big two certainly are. Although it was Gonzalo Higuaín and Cesc Fábregas who were the real stars in their victories.

• Roar! This week, Atlético Madrid produced a marketing campaign in which road signs round the Vicente Calderón were emblazoned with a picture of a tiger above the message: "on match days." And this weekend, having been left out of the squad for the Europa League in midweek, Radamel Falcao did it again. He has now scored in 11 consecutive games. Atlético have gone 23 unbeaten – the best run in their entire history. They are still level on points with Barcelona and eight ahead of Madrid. The Madrid derby is at the start of December. They couldn't … could they?

• Speaking of goalscorers, Obafemi Martins got another one, making it four in five games for him. Not just any four, either: the man who got the winner against Valencia and Real Sociedad scored the first two against Granada. Levante have won five times this season, with three of the wins delivered by Martins. It was his birthday too.

• Juan Carlos Valerón, magic man. He produced a glorious assist as the Galician derby finished 1-1.

Results: Espanyol 0-0 Malaga, Real Betis 1-0 Valencia, Celta Vigo 1-1 Deportivo La Coruña, Rayo Vallecano 0-5 Barcelona, Real Zaragoza 2-1 Sevilla, Levante 3-1 Granada, Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Getafe, Atlético Madrid 3-1 Osasuna, Mallorca 0-5 Real Madrid.

Monday night: Valladolid v Real Sociedad.

• Find out the latest La Liga standings here