The incredible sulk
Tuesday 12 May 2009 08:22, UK
Carlos Tevez, Liam Lawrence and, despite his strop, Cristiano Ronaldo earn Kammy's praise.
Is Ronaldo the greatest player ever?
Manchester United are a machine. No matter how much pressure is applied they just seem to get better. Everybody wants to play for them. Maybe Cristiano Ronaldo's tantrum didn't look too good, but you've got to admire his desire to win that Golden Boot. He can't do that while he's sat on the bench. There's no chance of them throwing the title away now, even though they've got to play Arsenal. To be honest, Arsenal won't even be a tricky game because they just want the season to end. Their players want to get out of here and re-group over the summer. At the moment Arsenal are a million miles behind. They found out in midweek they are nowhere near as good as Manchester United and then on Sunday they found out they're quite a way behind Chelsea too. Arsenal are clearly ahead of the other 16 teams in the Premier League, but the experience, the know-how and the quality just isn't as good as the teams above them. Which Arsenal players would get into the United, Chelsea or Liverpool sides? Maybe Cesc Fabregas, but he wouldn't be able to play in his current position behind the striker in any of those teams. It's going to be difficult for Arsene to reshape that football club. They are close, but there are two or three ingredients missing.Kammy's Picks of the Week
GAME - Manchester United 2-0 Manchester City
It was a tricky game for United, but you wouldn't know it the way it turned out. Carlos Tevez had a point to prove, Darren Fletcher was a wonderful engine for them and when you looked at the bench and saw Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, John O'Shea and Michael Carrick they had so many options. I was very impressed.
PLAYER - Carlos Tevez
There was a lot of pressure on him following all of the newspaper stories about him wanting to leave. In days gone by he wouldn't have been near the team, but Sir Alex understands the need for freedom of speech, picked him and demanded a performance. He certainly gave him one.
TEAM - Stoke City
They secured their safety after a tricky game away at Hull City. For them to have survived with two games to go is absolutely incredible when you condsider how many people were writing them off early on. Tony Pulis gets so much out of his players and the organisation is just tremendous.
GAFFER - Sam Allardyce
He got his team safe as well. They're up on 40 points so they can't be caught. Once again he has sorted them out with organisation and sticking to a game plan. They lost Jason Roberts and Roque Santa Cruz, but instead of panicking and changing the system he put Christopher Samba up there and he had an influence on the win over Portsmouth.
GOAL - Liam Lawrence
It was a great goal from a player that's got bags of ability. Whenever you speak to people about Stoke they tend to tar them with the same brush and talk about Rory Delap's long throws, but the skilful players like Ricardo Fuller and Liam Lawrence don't get the credit they deserve.
SAVE - Dean Kiely
There were some wonderful performances from goalkeepers this weekend. Jussi Jaaskelainen made some good saves and Sunderland's Marton Fulop made a really good save to deny Bolton. But Dean Kiely was outstanding for West Brom and I'll give it to him for his double save against Wigan.
GRIPE - Portsmouth's penalty
To be honest, the referees had a relatively decent weekend. The only dodgy decision was in the Blackburn game when Mike Riley gave a penalty against Keith Andrews, even though it was virtually impossible for him to get out of the way. In the end it made no difference because John Utaka put it miles over.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. RONALDO RESPECTRonaldo... Typical... If that is professional then he is being paid too much money for setting an example to children. He knew that the cameras were on him and clearly showed dissent towards his manager and the faith in the ability of his fellow players. It's in his make up, he wants to be the centre of attention and it shows. He needs to grow-up, if he wants to see how it is done, let him come and watch our Under10's at AFC ROSEHILL in Carshalton they know how to behave, they have heard of the RESPECT campaign... has Ronaldo? Thanks, Bolty in Carshalton...
KAMMY SAYS: It's easy to forget how young Ronaldo is. Maybe in three or four years time when he's got a bit more experience he won't react like that. He wanted to stay on and try to score more goals to win the Golden Boot, but Sir Alex quickly diffused the situation because he knows he needs his star player on his side.
For me he is the best player in the world and possibly even the best player I have ever seen. Even Lionel Messi can't do some of the things he can do; Messi can't score goals with his head or free kicks from 30 yards and he hasn't got the pace that Ronaldo has got. I think he is the complete footballer.
Diego Maradona was a wizard and Pele was a genius, but there's things that Ronaldo has that even they didn't have. As long as he stays at Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson keeps him at his top level, then we are witnessing the best player of all time. He'd be an absolute mug to leave that club.
ARSENE SPENDERSeeing Nicolas Anelka score against Arsenal made me think of the times that Arsenal were one of the biggest clubs and were a team that nobody wanted to play. Losing 4-1 is a disgrace. We need a new defence that has experience not youth. Where do you think Arsene Wenger should strengthen in the summer? Joe Mccallister
KAMMY SAYS: As I mentioned earlier, there are a couple ingredients missing in the Arsenal team. One is somebody who can tackle and the other is experience and leadership. Arsenal's football gets lots of plaudits and I'm sure that philosophy won't change, but they need to compete more and become harder to beat.
We saw the importance of experience on Sunday. From Alex to Terry to Lampard to Essien to Drogba, Chelsea had it all over the pitch. Yes, the future looks rosy for Arsenal, but how long can you wait? The other sides aren't going to experiment; they are going to keep buying the best players. Arsene Wenger is a genius and he has achieved some wonderful things, but he does need some senior players there. The reason why he was successful originally was because of the experience of guys like Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp. It seems strange they have moved away from that as much as they have.