Move over, Blatter
Monday 8 March 2010 11:50, UK
Kammy applauds Villa, Pompey and Paul Scholes... but says it's time to see the back of Sepp Blatter.
Kammy picks out the best of the weekend
Every Saturday afternoon, Chris Kamara heads to stadiums up and down the country to deliver his unique match reports for Soccer Saturday. On Sundays you can see him back in the Sky Sports studios as he brings you all of the highlights on Goals on Sunday. And then on Mondays you can find Kammy right here on skysports.com as he brings you his picks of the weekend. Join us every week as he runs through his highs and lows as well as answering YOUR questions... GAME - Portsmouth 2-0 Birmingham
There were quite a few decent games in the Premier League and the FA Cup. Everton demolished Hull; it was business as usual for Chelsea; Fulham showed their stubbornness against Spurs and Aston Villa produced a fantastic comeback against Reading. But I'll go for the game I went to, which was Pompey's win over Birmingham. It was virtually a full house at Fratton Park and the mood around the place has completely changed. The feeling is 'we've been knocked down, but we're going to get back up again' and the players proved it by getting into the FA Cup semi-final.
TEAM - Aston Villa
It was a great team effort to respond like they did from being 2-0 down to Reading and a lot of credit has to go to Martin O'Neill and to John Carew for his hat-trick. At half-time you could imagine the headlines about a big FA Cup shock and you have to give a lot of credit to Reading for making Villa look so poor in the first half. I'm sure Brian McDermott told his players not to concede early in the second half and within two minutes the tie had been turned on its head. It started a fantastic comeback.
PLAYER - John Carew
Frederic Piquionne scored two goals for Portsmouth and played really well. I've watched his progress since the start of the season and he is getting better. In his first game against Fulham he looked a million miles from being a Premier League player but he has settled in and on Saturday I was very impressed with him. However, I have to go for John Carew as player of the week for his hat-trick. He's played swapsies with Emile Heskey all season, but the difference with Carew is he guarantees you goals. He's unlucky that Heskey is there or else his goal tally might be even higher.
GAFFER - Avram Grant
I've got to pick Avram Grant, who still has a smile on his face despite all of Portsmouth's problems. I don't give them a hope of staying up but he still believes they can make up that nine-point deduction. He feels an injustice towards himself, the players and the supporters and he wants the club to fight all the way to give themselves a chance of staying in the Premier League. I spoke to him a while ago and he told me he'd never walked away from anything and he wasn't going to walk away from this. He still thinks he can keep them up with the players he's got and a place in the FA Cup semi-finals is a good reward for his commitment.
GOAL - Paul Scholes
This was his 100th goal in the Premier League and I'll choose it as goal of the week for that reason. I'm not sure what Jody Craddock was doing, he seemed to slip and it opened the goal up for Scholes but he finished it well. He's been a great servant to the Premier League and Sir Alex Ferguson keeps him going. There's still not a thought that he's past his sell-by date, he's still got plenty to offer and he's always had a wonderful knack in front of goal.
GRIPE - Time to replace Sepp Blatter
It's time to find somebody younger who is in touch with the modern game to be in charge of world football. On the day that he made an announcement that goal-line technology would not be allowed, we saw Birmingham have a perfectly good goal not given at Portsmouth. I was at the game and the only people who didn't see the ball cross the line were the referee and his assistants. They need help. We're not asking for any rule changes, just goal-line technology in the big leagues. They don't have to go down to grassroots where it's not affordable, but in the big leagues where there's loads of money, we've got to have it.
Yet stubborn Sepp Blatter won't have it. Quite simply it's because he's old and he's living in a time warp. When he first started watching football they played with big leather balls and steel toe-capped boots and he hasn't moved on. I don't think anybody has agreed with anything he's said in the last 10 years and I don't understand how this guy can be leading the world game. It's time for the Premier League to over-rule him and make the decision for him because these changes have got to happen.Kammy answers your questions...
Do you want Chris Kamara to answer YOUR question? Email him at skysportsclub@bskyb.com or use the feedback form at the bottom of the page. KICKED OUT OF THE CUP?Can anyone explain to me why Portsmouth are punished by the Premier League for going into administration and yet are allowed to carry on in the FA Cup as normal? Should they not be kicked out? Why is it one rule for one competition and one for another? David (Birmingham City fan)
KAMMY SAYS: Why should they be expelled from the FA Cup? They don't owe anybody any money in the FA Cup and they should fulfil their fixtures in that competition just like they are going to in the Premier League. They couldn't afford to pay their wages and they're going to be docked nine points in the league, but I don't see any point in punishing them a second time. The FA Cup starts with the Dog and Duck v The Red Lion in the middle of June at the lowest levels of football and those sides don't have any money either!
THE RIGHT CHOICEKammy. Who would you play on the right-hand side for England at the World Cup? I reckon it's a four-way choice between Walcott, Lennon, Wright-Phillips and Beckham. Will (England fan)
KAMMY SAYS: I think he'll take David Beckham, but Shaun Wright-Phillips' good display against Egypt has caused a problem. Aaron Lennon has a big opportunity if he gets fit and Theo Walcott is a bit short of match practice but maybe he will kick on after his goal for Arsenal at the weekend. I think the jury's out at the moment.
But I would like to see Fabio Capello consider a different formation that might win us the World Cup and I would like to see him pick players in their best positions. We have all seen Wayne Rooney perform brilliantly as a lone striker all season, but Capello puts his head in the sand and says his teams play 4-4-2 and that's the way it's going to be. When you've got Steven Gerrard playing comfortably off a lone striker at Liverpool and Frank Lampard playing in a similar system at Chelsea why not experiment with a lone striker? Move Gerrard and Lampard inside, let Gareth Barry can play in the holding role, put the clever James Milner on the left and Lennon or Wright-Phillips on the right.
Why not get the best out of the players you've got and play them in the positions they are comfortable in at their clubs? Why not put Steven Gerrard in his best position? The team could almost take care of itself with that system and last week's game with Egypt was a perfect chance to try it out. But Capello says the players will have to conform to his team; he believes in 4-4-2 and that's the end of it. As a result someone has to be sacrificed and at the moment that's always Gerrard and you don't get the best out of him.