I think everyones explained it really well why season 7s focus was off.
I get your point about the season being an "us vs them" set up, but the part I hated about it was that Spike loved that, Spikes reaction wasn't that Buffy should try and fix things with her friends, which if he cared about her he would have, but his reaction is "screw them, it's you and me vs the world". Spike being a souled good guy now should have had him caring about Buffy more, not continuing to try and drive a wedge between Buffy and scoobies for his own selfish wants.
Angel didn't have the same mentality, which made everything had a much nicer flow to it.
I'm not sure that I would argue that souled Spike loved that Buffy was distanced from her friends (soulless Spike on the other hand, absolutely). I just think he didn't really realise how important they were to her, or didn't really care. Since first becoming part of the Scoobies in S4, he's been pretty dismissive of, and antagonistic towards, the other Scoobies- despite how vital they all tend to be to Buffy's fight, and how many times they've saved each other. As you say, Spike's reaction when he finds out about what happened is not to try and ascertain why the Scoobies and Potentials turned on Buffy so drastically, nor to try and figure out how to fix this, it's to beat the crap out of Faith, and then say "Screw them, we're taking the power back", to Buffy.
And if he did mean "mostly Faith and Wood", then that just shows how little he has bothered to find out about the situation. ALL of the Scoobies and Potentials united against Buffy's leadership. The Potentials voted Faith in as their leader. Dawn told Buffy that if she couldn't accept Faith as the leader, then she had to leave. All Wood really said in the conversation was that Faith had the floor- implying that she should be listened to- and Faith is probably the one who sticks up for Buffy the most, telling them that she ISN'T the best choice for leadership, and that Buffy needs to take a breather, not necessarily quit altogether, and asking Buffy if she can follow (implying she'd be willing to have Buffy on the team still if Buffy was willing to let someone else take the lead). None of this fits with the picture that Spike tries to paint of Faith the evil bitch come to take the leadership from Buffy. Because Spike doesn't bother to find out.
And again, I think this is where it differs from B/A - Buffy and Angel disagreed sometimes. And Angel knows how important Buffy's friends are to her. Spike (re-ensouled) is Buffy's Yes Man, and doesn't give a damn about her friends. So when Spike (and Buffy, actually with the "only Spike has my back" thing) are dismissive of her friends throughout the later part of the season, and the story pays them little to no attention, then that only seems to re-enforce this idea that people have.
Come on be realistic here. That last part is a joke to me. You make it seem like Spike is no more useful in a fight than anya or any other human. Whether you like Spike or not it is ridiculous to claim he is only as good in a fight as a human
Forgive me if I'm wrong- I assume what BEG means is not that Spike is no more useful in a fight in general than a human. Obviously, if Spike were up against Anya, Xander, or any other human character, there is a good chance he would win (though all of them have taken out vampires before, so it's possible it would go the other way). However, in the fight against Glory, he doesn't really contribute any more than Anya. In fact, given that Anya suggested using the hammer and Dagonsphere, if we include planning, he probably contributed less. He probably takes out more minions than Anya or the others, as he is stronger and better in a fight, but it's Willow who weakens Glory, it's Xander who weakens her further with the wrecking ball, it's Giles who kills Ben and it's Buffy who kills Doc and closes the portal. Whether or not you like Spike, you have to admit that his contribution to the overall big fight in this case is not that great.
