Eric Dier wants England to start having fun again and thinks going toe to toe with Spain at Wembley was the perfect way to start.
The Tottenham midfielder has been an England player for a year now, making his debut against the Spaniards in Alicante last November and wrapping up 2016 with Tuesday night's 2-2 draw against the same opponents.
In between he has experienced his first taste of tournament heartbreak with the national side, bowing out of Euro 2016 with the crushing defeat to Iceland in Nice.
A period of grave introspection surrounded the Three Lions thereafter and the sense of crisis only deepened when new manager Sam Allardyce departed one game into his tenure following a newspaper sting.
Dier now wants those on the pitch, and in the stands, to begin enjoying things again, citing the all-action clash against Spain as a step in the right direction.
"I thought it was good fun apart from conceding at the end,'' he said after Iago Aspas and Isco struck late to cancel out goals from Adam Lallana and Jamie Vardy.
"I think that's what we as players for England, and the fans, need to do -- we need to enjoy it a bit more instead of always worrying and that's what we did.''
Dier also threw himself wholeheartedly behind the brand of football Gareth Southgate imposed during his four-game stint.
Whether or not Southgate continues in the post on a permanent basis now lies with the Football Association, but the 46-year-old's emphasis on methodical attacking and building play from the back has gone down well in the dressing room.
For Dier, who learned his trade in Portugal's more technical system and grew in stature under Mauricio Pochettino's progressive regime at Spurs, that is the only way to proceed.
"I don't care what the result is, I want us to have a style of play and a way of playing that we stick to,'' he said. "Win, lose or draw I'll be happy as long as we stick to a way of playing and believe in it 100 percent.
"Gareth is the same way, I don't think anything should change for him. It's important that people don't change and stick to their beliefs.
"I think that's what we've been doing over these four games now and you could see it [against Spain] better than in the other three.
"We had a way, we stuck to it and we got our rewards up until the end.
"I think at times you can be half-hearted -- you play out and then you lose the ball playing out so you want to go long; you go long and it's 'why didn't you play out?'
"You either do it or you don't, for me, with or without the ball. I think we've been getting better at that.''