
Think you are reading to much into that.
Very possibly. We don't know Howson's tone of voice or body language as he answered the questions; we don't know how the questions were framed; etc.
For me, though, it highlights yet another problem we have this season. We don't rotate the squad any more, so we have lost many advantages that we gained last season from PL's use of more players:
1) Players who were tired could get rested; the players who came in were reasonably match-sharp. They also hadn't had their confidence ground down by sitting on the beach for a whole season. They also knew that if they performed well, they stood a good chance of keeping their place in the team.
2) It was difficult for opponents to plan their tactics against us. In contrast, now they don't even need to look at our latest match; they can just look at any match from any point of the season (or pre-season) and know exactly what we are going to do.
3) It made our players very flexible tactically, which meant they could take responsibility for what was happening during the game. In contrast, this season we are trying to turn them into robots who are programmed to follow orders and malfunction if spontaneous reaction is required.
4) Most importantly of all, we no longer have a SQUAD, we have a group of chosen ones who get a game however badly they play and a group who know that the only way they are ever going to get a game is through injury (or a Cup tie), that they are not trusted, that they have no future at the club whatever happens, and that they will be back on the bench as soon as the chosen one is available again. Well, if you throw players on the scrap heap, they're likely to turn into scrap (hence the Luton game).