You have to say it was poor - even when acknowleding it was an extremely challenging situation needing so many players to fill the squad.
With hindsight we've fallen into a similar trap to the Sherwood summer when we bought with an eye on future potential and re-sale value (Gana, Adama, Vertout, Amavi etc) and didn't get the balance right with some PL experience.
I wouldn't have thought much of it at the time but Gary Cahill would have been a brilliant signing this summer. We've lacked know how and leaders in the side.