Michael Mancienne plans to take a leaf out of John Terry's book as he bids to retain the England Under-21 captaincy for Sunday's must-win game.
Mancienne is desperate to hold on to the armband for the final European Under-21 Championship Group B game against the Czech Republic in Denmark, having started the opening two matches of the tournament as skipper.
Mancienne: England Under-21 skipper
The defender was criticised for his performance as a holding midfielder in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Spain and his place in the side was thought to be under threat ahead of Wednesday night's meeting with Ukraine.
But head coach Stuart Pearce kept faith with the 23-year-old, who did improve in what was otherwise another lacklustre England draw.
And Mancienne wants another chance to show he can inspire his side to the victory they need this weekend and to next Saturday's final.
"To captain your country at any level is a massive honour, but to be given the chance to do it at a major championship is an even bigger one," he said.
"It's a big responsibility and one I don't take lightly.
"I want to keep it. I want to do well for my country and I want to do well for my team.
"I want us to get to the final so badly. I want us to win this tournament and do really well."
Mancienne grew up with the ideal captaincy role model in former Chelsea team-mate Terry.
"I have watched him most of my career," said Mancienne, who quit Stamford Bridge to join Hamburg two weeks ago.
"He's a massive inspiration to me.
"Having the chance to train with him and learn from him has helped my career massively.
"I like the way he dominates on the pitch vocally and in terms of his performance.
"He leads by example and he's a great leader."
Mancienne insisted he had given no thought to losing the captaincy after the Spain game, but added: "I was just concentrating on trying to stay in the team.
"The manager picks the team and has some tough decisions to make because there's a lot of talent in the squad and a lot of talent sitting on the bench."
With the Chris Smalling and Phil Jones partnership looking unbreakable at the back and Kyle Walker also impressing at right-back, Mancienne will only get in the side as a midfielder at present.
He said: "I don't mind where I play as long as I am playing in the team.
"If the manager wants me to play a certain position, that's the position I'll play."
It is in midfield that England need to improve dramatically against the Czechs.
Mancienne said: "It's not great because we've made it hard for ourselves going into the last game.
"We could have played a lot better against Ukraine and moved the ball a lot better.
"On the positive side, we didn't concede any goals and that's important.
"Hopefully, we'll win on Sunday and kick on from there.
"But, to be honest, we haven't really got going yet and we need a big performance against Czech Republic."
Mancienne therefore would be more than happy to delay his arrival at Hamburg, where he will be reunited with former Chelsea sporting director Frank Arnesen, who has now brought several of the Blues youngsters to the Bundesliga club.
"It'll be good to have players there I know," Mancienne said.
"That should help me settle in quicker.
"The German league is a bit more technical than the Premier League and will probably suit me better."
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