The biggest question mark next to Howe’s name was always how far he could take us and it would come down how good he could be from a tactical point of view. This job was a huge step up from Bournemouth where his shortcomings became apparent, but he went away and studied other managers to try and improve. Whether that was ever going to be enough to move him into that elite category would always come to the fore one day and I think we’re seeing it now unfortunately. He can produce a game plan to win any one-off game but I just don’t think he has it in him to do it consistently and lacks the ideas to stop the rot, be it game-to-game or in-game.
I love the bloke and will forever appreciate what he’s achieved for us but there have been worrying signs for a long period now that he’s taken us as far as he can. I know he didn’t get a great deal of support from the hierarchy over the past few years and it perhaps isn’t fair to judge him after the summer we’ve had but he also hasn’t helped himself by his stubbornness. The current formation doesn’t work with the players we have. The way we play doesn’t work. We’ve become passive with no real identity and in truth, we haven’t produced one convincing 90 minute performance since the League Cup final. Man City at home was probably the best this season but even then we rode our luck in that one.
There have been too many games in which we’ve looked poor and struggled to create chances but he won’t change anything and it’s infuriating. One thing you could never level at Howe was that we were a poorly coached team but we look like that this season. We don’t create enough chances but also don’t defend well enough either so what are we actually good at? I can’t recall the last time I came away from a game thinking how well we’d played and enjoyed the performance we’d produced.
Substitutions are often later than they need to be but always like for like, rather than trying to catch a team out with something different. He doesn’t seem to know how to change the course of a game when it isn’t going well and it’s hugely concerning that it’s been going on so long now.
I know he likes his plan A and his plan B is to do plan A better but it just doesn’t cut it when we’ve become so predictable. Teams are happy to give us the ball because they know we can’t break them down. This has been evident for a while and many have screamed to sign some more creative players to help break down a low block but it hasn’t been addressed in our recruitment. We’ve got four wingers that can’t take a man on other than for pace. We have a group of six CMs that all possess similar attributes with only one being able to unlock a defence. We had a chance to really elevate our starting XI this summer but we went for players, largely, that were never going to raise the floor or ceiling.
The way we play just baffles me and has done for a while. Our off the ball shape is horrible and it’s criminal how often we are torn to shreds on the counter by a simple ball between the lines. It isn’t healthy to continually have numerous players running at your defensive line but he hasn’t fixed it and has shown no indication that he actually wants to which is that stubbornness again. The way our wingers continually drop in to receive and don’t stretch the defence has to come from Howe. The passing across the board is slow and laborious, we’re so easy to play against but we just churn out the same every game. We’re apparently “learning lessons” but then just rinse and repeat the following week. It isn’t healthy to make it so easy for opposition teams to know how you’re going to set up game after game, same formation and largely the same way of playing too, knowing we’ll either press intently or sit back in a flat 4-5-1 . The coaching staff has stayed the same since Howe arrived (set-piece coach aside) - why not get in a new coach to offer some fresh ideas? I know he has trust issues but something has to give; the players need to hear new voices every now and again, it happens at pretty much every other club but we just continue as we are, even if we’re struggling.
I actually think that there are signs that the players are losing faith or have lost faith in his methods, the game against the mackems being a prime example of it. We shouldn’t have sat back in that game and I don’t think the players think we should have. Howe will always be credited for how he can improve a player on the training pitch and rightly so but we’re starting to see big drop offs in performance levels and at the minute, he doesn’t look like he knows how to address it. The way he manages players has always been top notch but even that is starting to look questionable now. Gordon’s numbers over the past year are nothing short of disgraceful yet no matter what Barnes does, he’s the first choice LW. Things like that don’t go down well with the one it impacts but it causes others to question the decision making too.
I really hope he can turn things around as I want him to be our manager and to lead us successfully for years to come but he has to learn and fast. I know he’s overcome slumps before but this one feels very different and at least previously, it looked like there was a way to turn things around. This time, I fear the writing is on the wall and it will mostly be down to his inability to adapt which really highlight his limitations.
