Jordan Henderson says England's players will still look to Wayne Rooney for leadership, despite the Manchester United star's demotion to the bench for Tuesday's game against Slovenia.
Interim manager Gareth Southgate announced on Monday he is set to drop Rooney for Tottenham's Eric Dier, with Liverpool skipper Henderson taking on the role of captain in his absence.
Rooney was booed by sections of England's support during Saturday's 2-0 win over Malta but Henderson says the 30-year-old is still hugely valued by his fellow players in the England dressing room.
"Wayne is very experienced, for me he has been one of the best players in the world for many years and he sets an example to all of us on and off the field," Henderson said.
"He is someone we all look up to as a captain and a leader for his experience and the type of person that he is.
"He is massive for this team and just because he is not playing, it won't change anything.
"I am sure people will make a big deal of him not starting but, in football, teams change tactically for different opposition and for different reasons.
"As I said, this doesn't change anything for us as a team in terms of Wayne not starting. He is our captain, he leads by example, and he'll be ready to come on and make an impact when given the opportunity."
Southgate said the decision to drop Rooney was a difficult one for him but once he made it he had no doubts about handing the captain's armband to the 26-year-old Henderson.
"I've been very impressed with him," said Southgate. "What's stood out for me is that he's captained a club [Liverpool] where he's had to take over from one of the biggest players in English football [Steven Gerrard].
"In this group he has a voice, an opinion, and ideas of what we need to work on, and good tactical awareness. He's used to the responsibility of captaining a big football club."