Former England player John Barnes has said that England's international stars are too empowered.

Barnes, who is a staunch supporter of England coach Fabio Capello, believes that fans and experts alike are too eager to blame the Italian instead of the superstars on the pitch.

Until the England players begin to take responsiblity for their performances, the former Liverpool man insists that they'll continue to struggle.

"As far as I am concerned, we empower our players in England too much to not take responsibility for the bad performances," Barnes told Goal.com.

"The more we empower our players to think they can criticise the manager so they don't have to perform, the more England will never achieve anything.

"We have to start backing the manager because our England players are empowered so much and they feel so comfortable knowing that they are not going to be criticised."

Capello leads his side against world champions Spain at Wembley this afternoon.