West Ham United’s Declan Rice started for England on Saturday.
England resumed their EURO 2020 qualifying campaign on Saturday evening, hosting Bulgaria at Wembley Stadium in what proved to be a convincing 4-0 win.
Gareth Southgate’s men were back in action after their failed UEFA Nations League campaign, and they coasted to victory thanks to a Harry Kane hat-trick.
England pinched the ball from Bulgaria’s back line to set up Kane’s opener, before he buried a penalty to make it 2-0, and Raheem Sterling bundled the ball home for 3-0.
Kane added another penalty to seal his hat-trick and a 4-0 win, continuing the fine form under Southgate, and he’ll be looking for more against Kosovo on Tuesday.
It wasn’t a perfect performance, and some players have been criticised for their performances, with young midfielder Declan Rice one of them.
Southgate took the surprise decision to play both Rice and Jordan Henderson in a conservative midfield despite knowing England would dominate the play against Bulgaria, and West Ham star Rice received some criticism.
Fans on Twitter pointed out that he was limited, failing to really pass the ball forward whilst The Telegraph even suggested that it was a surprise to see him start over the more progressive Harry Winks of Tottenham.
Amid that criticism, Leicester City star and England teammate James Maddison took to Instagram to praise Rice as ‘top drawer’, with Hammers fans backing the assessment from a fellow midfielder over fan reactions.
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