England defender Gary Cahill has credited coach Gary Neville with making the team tougher to play against recently.

The Three Lions have won all four of their matches since the disastrous World Cup campaign in Brazil this summer, while they would equal the national record of six consecutive clean sheets if they avoid conceding against Slovenia at Wembley on Saturday.

Cahill believes that Neville deserves praise for toughening up the defenders, while the Chelsea man also conceded that England had been "too nice" in the past.

"He was a fantastic defender. And he likes being hard, and tough to play against, being physical - almost like old-school, whereby you let the attackers know they are in a game and feel your presence, just by being aggressive and getting tight to them," Cahill told reporters.

"It's something we've certainly addressed. We are definitely a lot harder to play against defensively. It is about being physical and wanting to win the ball back and putting tackles in - the basics of defending, really. I think at the minute we are doing that really well.

"I think at times we've been too nice, and [changing that] comes with experience. It's a big part of the game - knowing when to slow things down, or when not to play from the back. It's just managing the game really, which maybe we are doing a lot better."

England currently lead the way in Group E and would go six points clear for a few hours at least with victory this weekend.