Eric Dier has said England coach Gareth Southgate will not be hampered by his lack of experience at the highest level, telling the Evening Standard he has been "brilliant from the start."
Dier played 90 minutes as England continued their preparations for the World Cup with a 1-1 draw against Italy at Wembley on Tuesday.
England were denied by a late VAR-assisted Lorenzo Insigne penalty but the performance was another encouraging step for Southgate, previously in charge of Middlesbrough and England under-21s.
And Dier believes that lack of top-level experience will not count against Southgate in Russia.
"I don't really care how experienced you are, how old or young, whether it's your debut or first tournament," the Tottenham Hotspur player said.
"The most important thing is to just be yourself and to have a positive attitude. We have that as a team and so does the manager.
"We have to be ourselves, not worry about things like that and just try to be the best that we can be.
"The circumstances when Gareth took over must have been very difficult. He came completely out of the blue, but the way he has handled himself and the players has been brilliant from the start.
"After the first few camps it was still a bit new to everyone, but now we are used to the roles and everything has become more natural when we get together. That's really helping now."
Dier hailed Southgate's openness and communication skills, saying the 47-year-old had given peace of mind to his players.
"It's a very easy relationship between the players and the coach. The way Gareth handles us makes the relationship natural," he added.
"He treats us like men, he's direct with us, he talks to us. He is very communicative about everything.
"As a player that's really good because it leaves your mind at rest. We are not worrying about X and Y because he makes everything clear. He communicates really well with us.
"We have to keep working hard to maintain our progress going because there is still a lot we can improve on."