MY BARNES GUILT WILL SAVE US

PAUL LAMBERT believes his guilty secret will inspire his Stoke players to beat the drop. Lambert said he still feels bad about failing to save John Barnes (right, with Lambert) from the sack as Celtic boss 18 years ago, when he was a midfielder with the Scottish giants. Stoke’s manager believes top players take responsibility when things are going badly – and reckons his squad is doing just that. Lambert (left) has gone six games without a victory since winning his first game in charge, against Huddersfield, but there have been four draws in that run – and one of the defeats was against champions-elect Manchester City. The Scot said: “It was horrible when John Barnes left Celtic. We were at fault, the players. We never performed.

“Players have got to take responsibility. If I had a bad game then I knew I was to blame, not the manager.

“So a big thing for me against Manchester City on Monday was how disappointed everybody was with losing. We spoke after the game and everybody felt really deflated, which is a good sign. Manchester City are taking football to another level in this country but you could sense the disappointment. “They are right on top of their game at the minute but we never capitulated. “Talk about bravery. People say bravery’s about getting stuck into tackles, but bravery is taking the ball at really difficult moments. “It’s the bravery of taking responsibility.”