I love Howe for what he’s done for the club. He’s massively overachieved in the first 3 and a half seasons but no one is untouchable, certainly not when you look at the trajectory and red flags over the last ~12 months:
The tactical rigidity: we must be one of few prem teams to play without a 10 - we don’t even have the profile in the team to use it as an option either. The 433 we’ve played over the last 4 seasons has become stale and so easy to play against. The 451 out of possession has glaring issues between defence/midfield and Eddie seems too stubborn to adapt. Watching Man City press with a front 4 against Arsenal in the cup final was quite depressing knowing we’d never be so tactically fluid.
Recruitment: I find it pretty remarkable that his nephew just so happens to be an industry leading recruiter who works at the same club, directly with/for the first team. Crazy coincidence. Even crazier that he also worked with Eddie at Bournemouth… I’m sure he is best in class, though.
I think it’s clear Howe has far too much control in this area of the club. We’ve definitely signed more hits than misses, but this last summer was horrendous on so many levels and someone needs to take accountability. Why sign a technical number 9 for £60m+ who clearly doesn’t have much pace to play in a side that only wants to play in behind? Then there’s the £110m spent on Wissa and Elanga… and another questionable £40m on a squad player in Ramsey. All round terrible squad planning and pedalling the PSR line is offensive when Eddie has clearly insisted on signing premium PL players.
Then I think there’s the question of how we go to that next level of competing consistently for CL - regardless of whether we performed well this season - would Howe ever be the right person for that job? Looking at how we play, Howe’s very much relied on physicality throughout his time. However, when you look across Europe, the very best sides are still extremely technical. All the issues then sort of merge into one - the tactics, the recruitment, the loyalty/reliance on players like Trippier, Burn, Gordon, Murphy, Joelinton - all of whom I think have solid attributes but nowhere near the ability we need to evolve to the next level.
In such a pivotal summer, we’ve ended up signing another round of bang average athletes. All of which leads back to Howe - a manager with a pedigree of Bournemouth/Burnley. An expert in over delivering with an average side but is he the man to turn us into a possession based, technical side, good enough to consistently compete in the CL? This season shows he’s probably not, which is a shame.
