Paul Lambert puts blame on Charlie Adam in criticism of Xherdan Shaqiri

Former Stoke City manager Paul Lambert has said that a missed Charlie Adam penalty could have saved the Potters from relegation to the Championship last season.

Stoke finished second from bottom behind Swansea and survivors Southampton last season and Lambert highlights a late penalty miss from Adam as a moment that could have saved their season. The Scotland international was quite critical of former Stoke winger and new Liverpool signing Xherdan Shaqiri this summer with the former Reds midfielder claiming that he may grow frustrated if he finds himself sitting on the bench this season at Anfield.

"He's a big player, at times he did well for us," Adam told BBC Sport. "But in critical situations, I felt tracking back and what we needed for the team in a relegation battle just wasn't there. "He has got it in him, but he probably knew we were going to get relegated, he was going to the World Cup and had this big move - this move was probably done three, four months ago. "He is a match-winner, but at times it was difficult to play in the same team. The manager would let him get away with certain things."

Lambert, who took over from Mark Hughes in January before leaving the club by mutual agreement in May, said he had no problems with Shaqiri during his time with the club.

"Listen, what happened there before I went in there I don't know what was going on before, but the freedom he did have [on the pitch] was because he was the one kid that can actually unlock doors for you," said Lambert on BeIN Sport. "You need special players that can make things happen for you. If we'd beaten Brighton, and we had a great chance to do it with a penalty that Charlie should have scored, and if he'd done that then we'd have been totally fine."

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