The reason Howard had such a great season last year is simply down to the change of philosophy, formation and the personal.
Philosophy - Martinez brought a more controlled, patient and attacking play. This made teams play much deeper and very few pushed high up against Everton last year and the teams that did i.e Lpool, City, Palace managed to score quite easily.
Formation - Again benefited Howard having 2 deep laying midfielders in Barry & McCarthy. They helped stem the pace in midfield and stop most attacks before getting to our final third.
Personal - The additions of Barry, McCarthy, Lukaku plus the emergence of Barkley gave teams more to think about so less attacking from them.
Our big problem with is also Howard is we have been found out. Teams know we have players who are off the boil (Distin & Barry) plus no new attacking additions so we are basically the same team as last year.
The same goals we conceded last year are the same as this year but just a lot more.
Howard is ROOTED to the line on crosses, free kicks & one on ones so if he does come off it he is too slow to react.
He isn't helping us but player such as Distin and Barry are more droppable then Tim.