Sam Allardyce hopes Adam Lallana's late winner in Slovakia can help remove the "nervous tension" that exists around the England squad.
When predecessor Roy Hodgson gave his reluctant farewell press conference in Chantilly he suggested that the dreadful defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016 might leave the young squad mentally scarred and predicted they would take some time to heal.
Allardyce rejected the notion that the team were 'damaged' by their experiences in France but admitted they struggled to express themselves in his first match as manager.
Lallana's 94th-minute strike eventually settled matters in England's favour and Allardyce wants that moment to be the springboard for more convincing performances in the future.
"They're a happy bunch, not a damaged bunch," he said.
"But I think I saw a little nervous tension and it's bound to be in the back of their mind. They had a holiday, a pre-season, then it comes to the first game after Iceland and maybe there was nervous tension.
"I think it was possession for possession's sake for the opening 45 minutes rather than trying to break the opposition down. So that may be a bit of sub-conscious about not wanting to be the one that gives the ball away.
"But we have to be brave."
And he left no doubt that the difference between a late snatched victory and a goalless draw against 10 men could be a big one.
"Immense. It was the most important thing in my England career," he said with a smile.
"But more for the players than for me.
"It puts us on the journey... hopefully we can get better. I can only hope we get stronger."
Former England captain Terry Butcher was commentating on the game for BBC Radio 5 Live and suggested the players had psychological issues around playing for their country.
It has long been a problem getting Premier League stars to replicate their club form for the Three Lions - an issue Allardyce will need to grapple with.
Famed sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters worked as a consultant with England under Hodgson and Allardyce has also enlisted professional help to assist the squad.
"We use a company with many facets in the locker and we use them on a consistent basis to help them build more resilience and to cope with pressure better, even though they already deal with a lot of pressure," he said.
"On an international stage it's learning how to deal with it. Plus they are very young, as a squad we are really young and when we get criticised we hurt - we really do.
"But I haven't asked what their biggest fear is. I didn't want to talk about fear, I wanted to be positive and tell them what the future is. The only thing I mentioned about the past is to learn from it and not to feel like that again."
Allardyce also elaborated on his deployment of Wayne Rooney.
After the match he suggested that he had deferred to his captain when choosing to place him in a deep-lying midfield role.
That jarred with previous assertions that he would be guided by Rooney's use at Manchester United, where Jose Mourinho has used him as an advanced number 10.
While Allardyce has not given up hope of Rooney adding to his record 53 England goals, he also made it clear that the main scoring burden now lies elsewhere.
"Was there any need (to push Rooney forward) when we've got Dele Alli, Theo Walcott, Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling, the full-backs pushing on, Harry Kane?" he said.
"We have enough goalscorers in front of Wayne, if we go and put another one in, we may leave ourselves open to the counter-attack, and get the sucker punch.
"He says 'you can play me anywhere you want me to play and I will try and play there'. He has had it at Manchester United, under many different managers, played down the right, the left, centre forward, in behind, centre midfield.
"Me and Wayne's relationship as we grow, will always be to promote him as captain but first and foremost to make sure he's playing his best football."
Source: PA
