Hypothetically, if Pat was hired to "save Intel", and the way to save Intel was to open up their fabs and catch up in R&D after years of stagnation, wouldn't that necessitate massive amounts of CAPEX and NRE? Wouldn't that lead to their current situation?
Realistically, I don't see what he could have done differently, and why short-term shareholder value should take precedent here. If his vision is correct, there was never going to be any turn around before 18A. 18A was always his metric as the turning point. Intel could reduce R&D by $4B/year to return to profitability, and they'd still be matching the combined R&D expenses of TSMC, AMD, and Nvidia.
What would you have done differently in his position if you were dealt the terrible hand he was? Sapphire Rapids disaster predates him. 10nm debacle predates him. Entering the GPU market so late predates him.
The only moves I see him having are cutting expenses, fixing fabs, opening fabs to get the volume needed for profitability, and this will ensure the long term success of Intel even if that means they will be in a rough situation for the 2020's. It's not his fault his predecessors delayed EUV and focused on stock buybacks.