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Germany coach Löw: "I have no doubts"

The World Champions have arrived in Leipzig. One day prior to their final European Championship qualifying game against Georgia (on Sunday, 20:45 CEST), Germany coach Joachim Löw and the World's Best Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer answered the media’s questions, and expressed their optimism for the upcoming encounter. DFB.de attended the final press conference and summarised the most important statements.

Joachim Löw on...

...the defeat in Dublin: We were disappointed about not getting a result in Dublin. But I don’t think that anything dramatic has happened. We were disappointed, but at the same time we’re confident that we will bounce back.

...a potential arrogance within the team: Not one of our players is showing signs of arrogance. I never had that feeling about my team. We became erratic during the game with Ireland, but not arrogant. Perhaps the lack of concentration also played a part. The fact is, we don't always have a lot of time to practice so we have to strengthen our players mentally through conversations. The team has to learn to take better advantage of their chances and score goals early. Otherwise we give the opposition confidence. Our game in the final third has to improve.

...what areas need to be worked on: I have no doubts on our idea of how to play the game. We will sit down and discuss what areas of our game didn’t work so well and try to improve them. Our defence has looked solid lately, but we made one mistake in our last game. If you look at the statistics, you will see that we require too many chances to score. Our efficiency has not been on point in the last year and we need to work on that. We have to take every chance, as if it was the only chance we had in the game. Our control of the game is excellent, but we aren’t as clinical as we once were.

...Mario Götze: We were shocked to hear how severe the injury really was. He had just rediscovered a good form, not just with us, but also at his club FC Bayern. Therefore we are all very sad for him.

...Bastian Schweinsteiger: Bastian has returned to do some light running exercises. A decision on whether he can play or not will be made at short notice.

...Leipzig as the venue for the match: Leipzig is a great venue for our team, as we've celebrated a lot of success here already. We look forward to the game and to the fans, who will give us great support once again.

...strikers such as Klose and Gomez: We've had this discussion for a few years now. Do their styles of play fit into our team? Mario Gomez definitely has a lot of quality and he remains a prospect for this team. Our team is able to create goals from open play and it's important for me that a player fits into our philosophy.



The World Champions have arrived in Leipzig. One day prior to their final European Championship qualifying game against Georgia (on Sunday, 20:45 CEST), Germany coach Joachim Löw and the World's Best Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer answered the media’s questions, and expressed their optimism for the upcoming encounter. DFB.de attended the final press conference and summarised the most important statements.

Joachim Löw on...

...the defeat in Dublin: We were disappointed about not getting a result in Dublin. But I don’t think that anything dramatic has happened. We were disappointed, but at the same time we’re confident that we will bounce back.

...a potential arrogance within the team: Not one of our players is showing signs of arrogance. I never had that feeling about my team. We became erratic during the game with Ireland, but not arrogant. Perhaps the lack of concentration also played a part. The fact is, we don't always have a lot of time to practice so we have to strengthen our players mentally through conversations. The team has to learn to take better advantage of their chances and score goals early. Otherwise we give the opposition confidence. Our game in the final third has to improve.

...what areas need to be worked on: I have no doubts on our idea of how to play the game. We will sit down and discuss what areas of our game didn’t work so well and try to improve them. Our defence has looked solid lately, but we made one mistake in our last game. If you look at the statistics, you will see that we require too many chances to score. Our efficiency has not been on point in the last year and we need to work on that. We have to take every chance, as if it was the only chance we had in the game. Our control of the game is excellent, but we aren’t as clinical as we once were.

...Mario Götze: We were shocked to hear how severe the injury really was. He had just rediscovered a good form, not just with us, but also at his club FC Bayern. Therefore we are all very sad for him.

...Bastian Schweinsteiger: Bastian has returned to do some light running exercises. A decision on whether he can play or not will be made at short notice.

...Leipzig as the venue for the match: Leipzig is a great venue for our team, as we've celebrated a lot of success here already. We look forward to the game and to the fans, who will give us great support once again.

...strikers such as Klose and Gomez: We've had this discussion for a few years now. Do their styles of play fit into our team? Mario Gomez definitely has a lot of quality and he remains a prospect for this team. Our team is able to create goals from open play and it's important for me that a player fits into our philosophy.

...the tactical focus of his full backs: Our tactical focus should not be to keep playing balls back into the centre. Our full backs have different qualities to going into one-on-one situations. Jonas Hector has often proven that he can work his way out of a tricky situation. I can't expect Hector to go off on one dribble after the other in order to spread out the opposition. He finds a different solution.

...the lacking quality from the bench: I don't see it like that. During a tournament, it's difficult to compensate for a poor game or a mistake, but during the qualification period it's possible. We have players coming on from the bench who also bring fresh impulses to the team, even if some of them aren't playing to their absolute best currently.

...the line-up against Georgia: We'll have to wait and see if Bastian Schweinsteiger is fit. If he is 100 percent fit, then he will start. Otherwise I don't think I need to make many changes. We have a lot of players who can play a number of attacking positions and who need this attacking freedom in order to assert themselves.

...leading figures in the team: You always look out for players who take matters into their own hands. We lost three important players after the World Cup, but apart from Bastian Schweinsteiger, we have players who are leading figures within the team. Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller and Jerome Boateng are certainly among them. Sami Khedira has a lot of influence on the team as well, even if he isn’t playing as much recently.

Manuel Neuer on...

...the game against Ireland: We are confident going into our next match, because we know that we didn’t put in a bad performance and that we saved up our goals for the game with Georgia. I’m sure we’ll be victorious. Comparing the two teams, Georgia have a few players in their squad who like to move the ball forward and that should benefit us.

...the defence: We made one mistake, but I don't think we have a problem with our defence.

...his role within the team: We had some bad luck in our defensive third and the injury to Mario Götze also impacted our game, since he is always capable of creating something special that can decide games. It was very unfortunate and disappointing that Ireland landed a lucky punch with one of their few chances. Due to my position on the pitch, I'm able to read the game and I saw our team charge forward time and time again. I'm certainly an integral part of this team, but wearing the captain’s armband didn’t really change my role within the squad.

...Mario Götze: He is a true professional and fully aware of what's ahead of him. He's played well in recent games and I personally feel sorry for him. But he will return from his injury stronger than before.

...the situation in the standings: Every player knows the standings and what's at stake. The important thing is that we want to win against Georgia and we will.

...learning from FC Bayern: During this qualifying campaign we've mostly played against defensive-minded teams. Within the Germany team we have a different situation and different players. We don't have wingers who look to take on players in one-on-one situations but we find different ways to create chances.

...Leipzig being the venue for the game: Leipzig had to wait a long time before they were given an important match. The spectators will push us forward and we look forward to playing in front of them.