Top 10 things we learned from England 4-0 Bulgaria

By Mirror Football in Mirror Football Blog

Published 22:52 03/09/10

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England wrapped up a convincing 4-0 win over Bulgaria at Wembley tonight , but what did we learn from the game?

1) All we know is, he's called Joe Hart
Joe Hart - what a guy. Is there anything he can't do? We think he should be the new Stig.

2) You bet
Good to see there's been no over-reaction to England's decent win against a poor side. The Three Lions are now 9/1 to win Euro 2012 and 6/1 to win all their qualification matches. Will we never learn?!

3) England 4, Tottenham 0
Harry Redknapp might be one of the few Englishman not smiling tonight as England's victory came has blown a Jermain Defoe and Michael Dawson sized hole in his team, after the Spurs pair both went off injured. If only the transfer window hadn't just shut he could have used some of his legendary wheeler-de ahem, football management skills to bring in some replacements.

4) Franks, but no Franks
Mind you, Harry's nephew Frank Lampard might be another who found it slightly uncomfortable viewing - with Gerrard running the game from the middle, and England looking balanced on the wings, will Capello still persist in trying to crowbar the Chelsea man into the team when he's fit again?

4) When the chips are down...
By the look him Wayne Rooney loves chips, and he very nearly scored with one early in the second half.

5) Deadly Defoe
Jermain Defoe's hat-trick made him the leading scorer under Fabio Capello's reign with 12 goals. He is also the first player to score a hat-trick for England at Wembley since Alan Shearer against Luxembourg back in 1999. So there.

6) Winner Walcott
Theo Walcott looked quite lively, but didn't actually deliver much - a frustratingly common complaint about the Arsenal man. That said, this was his 13th straight win as an England player - amazingly a new all-time record for a player's longest winning streak.

7) England Wanderers
When he came on to replace the injured Michael Dawson, Gary Cahill became the first Bolton player to represent England since... Michael Ricketts. So good portents for his career there then. For the record, Ricketts is currently without a club after being released by Tranmere in January.

8) Les Blues get les blues
We might hate our manager and half the players, but look at it this way: at least we're not France. After their World Cup debacle, which was even worse than England's, Laurent Blanc's side contrived to lose 1-0 to Belarus - at home. Sacre bleu! In that context a decent 4-0 win seems really rather good doesn't it?

10) Berbatov's off
After that performance, Dimitar Berbatov's decision to retire from international football seems to make rather more sense, doesn't it?

Capello hails hat-trick hero Defoe after 'important' England win

Let's not turn Capello back into a God after one win - Oliver Holt's big match verdict

England 4-0 Bulgaria: Daily Mirror match report  

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