It wasn't our strongest side, granted, but something crystallized for me watching that. We're a team full of journeymen. Above average journeymen, perhaps, but journeymen still. There are no real characters in the side, and there are no genuinely exciting players (the jury still being well out on Lamela).
It's why I find I have some sympathy with Superhudd's position on that question of signings. From the hubristic tone of one or two of his posts, I suspect we might find more to disagree upon than otherwise beyond that, but even back in the nineties and early noughties when when we were mostly ѕhіt, finishing fourteenth and fifteenth every season, we still had the odd really exciting player who, you always thought, might do something at any moment. That player who, on his day, might win you the game on his own with a moment of brilliance. Gazza. Ginola. Klinsmann. It kept you engaged and interested, not just beaten into submission. There's none of that now, though, post-Bale, because all those players are going to be hoovered up before we've a look-in. Henceforth, we're to console ourselves with the spreadsheet approach. Average levels are raised. Across the board. Average finish is up. Goals per this and points per that.
Interest is firmly down, though. Excitement breeds excitement, and the converse is also true. When I'm beaten over the head with mediocrity, I find I quickly lose my taste for it.