Euro 2020 Qualifiers, England 4-0 Bulgaria: 3 Talking Points from the game

England's rampant start to the qualification campaign is yet to hit a speed breaker as they make it three wins out of three in the process. During this phase, the Three Lions have scored an impressive tally of 14 goals.

Due to a substantial gulf in the quality of the two sides, England was expected to have an easy victory against Bulgaria. Skipper Harry Kane, with his hat-trick, ensured that his side finished the game with maximum points in their bag. However, Gareth Southgate won't be resting on the laurels for too long as a few things need addressing before a tough game against Kosovo.

Bulgaria, who looked resolute defensively until the deadlock was broken, lost their way once they fell behind in the game. Until then, Harry Kane-led XI found it difficult to create many chances against a compact Lions side. The front-three of Kane, Sterling and Rashford looked lively throughout.

Also, Mason Mount was able to make his senior England debut, replacing Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson later in the second half. Overall, the Three Lions gained three points without much hassle.

However, Kosovo, highly acclaimed for their expansive style of football, is expected to provide a stern test for Southgate's men.

Without further ado, let's jump straight into the major talking points from the game where Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling stole the thunder at the Wembley Stadium.

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#3 Bulgaria tried too many things and lacked a clear plan to keep England at bay

Plamen Iliev's(in yellow) error led the English side into scoring their first goal.

Bulgaria started the game on a very high note, managing to strangle the Englishmen for the major part of game's opening thirty minutes. As the time wore, the frustration started to creep in England players, as they started to have undirected shots from outside the box.

The wise thing for Bulgaria was to carry in this pressure and maintain the deadlock for as long as possible. However, be it overconfidence or a lack of vision, Krasmir Balakov's men started to build attacks from the back, which they never looked comfortable doing.

It bore suicidal consequences as a coordinated press from Sterling and Kane forced opposing shot-stopper Plamen Iliev into an error, resulting in the Tottenham striker handing his side an advantage in the 24th minute.

Despite being uncomfortable in manufacturing short-buildups, Bulgaria seldom tested England centre-backs with hoofing long-balls, which could've been a unique option. In various moments, Bulgaria forced a few saves from Pickford when they exploited chances behind the full-backs Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose.

Failure to stick to a fixed plan proved costly as Balakov's men paid for their mistakes and overcomplicating things at various junctures.

Going forward, the Bulgaria coach could take his side's potential to defend well in a compact block as a major positive from 4-0 humiliation in Wembley.

#2 Despite dominating the possession, England scored due to errors from Bulgaria

In spite of making 804 passes, England failed to create much out of it.

Finally, the days of the English side playing direct and without any structure and cohesion are over. But, the change in philosophy has come at a stage where Gareth Southgate has improper tools to create his tactical mould. Unfortunately, England's Golden Generation was deprived of such a planned structure of football.

Likewise, Southgate would love to have the likes of Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, or Frank Lampard to be his midfield metronomes. However, the England side is still a work in progress. But now, people around this team know where the shortcomings are.

The Three Lions dominated the ball and moved the ball fluently, managing an excellent pass accuracy of 93% for over 800 attempted passes. But, players managed to hit the target just six times in an attempted 17 shots. Clearly, this depicts a shortage in the sharpness and creativity in the final third.

Southgate's troop looked most threatening when they broke at pace, and won the ball back with high-pressing. When in possession, they depended on players creating space with their runs rather than finding a killer final pass.

All the four England goals came at a time when Bulgaria panicked and committed a mistake.

#1 England's clinical finishing masked the absence of a midfield orchestrator

Captain Kane's four-goal contribution saved the day for England.

Had Bulgaria refrained from individual mistakes and took their chances, we could have discussed England's performance in a vastly contrasting tone. If we look at the raw numbers, 804 passes with 93% success-rate, 17 shots on goal, and 68% ball possession, we could easily imply that the Three Lions ran riot at the Wembley Stadium.

However, out of those 17 shots, only six were on target, out of which four resulted in goals. Credit where due, England made Bulgaria pay for their lapses in concentration with their clinical finishing. But, Gareth Southgate surely would have wanted his side to create more from the duration for which they kept the possession.

In order to cut-open the defences, movements of attacking players are as important as the vision of midfield players to find open spaces. This England side is crying out for a deep-lying metronome who could bridge gel the centre-backs with the playmakers and forwards.

Ross Barkley was morphed into a number eight when his best moments came while linking up with Danny Rose and Marcus Rashford on the left side. Declan Rice played his number-six role to perfection by intercepting the Bulgarian passes and recycling possession. And, Jordan Henderson is playing as a number-eight best suits the box to box role.

Perhaps, Gareth Southgate's next project could be to find a well-oiled midfield engine which helps in the smooth flow of English XI.