I think it's because we don't win trophies so we are more likely to say playing good football is more important. If we had beat Liverpool in a scrappy boring way then we would have all been over the moon. Don't think people would say "nah, rather we played well & lost.".The point is that “quality football” is not and should not be a goal unto itself. The goal is to win. “Quality football” may sometimes be the best strategy to achieve the goal. And when it is, we should do it. If it’s not the best strategy, we shouldn’t do it. If we win a CL title playing “anti-football” I’ll be over the moon.
It's like last year a lot of us said getting to the CL final means nothing if you don't win it. But then this year we say it's an amazing achievement getting to the CL. It's human nature to change your preference to suit what you have.