Football
Reuters 5y

Germany coach Joachim Low admits pressure is growing after Netherlands defeat

Germany coach Joachim Low has said he is braced for renewed debate over his future after his side crashed to a 3-0 loss to Netherlands on Saturday.

The Nations League defeat -- Netherlands' first win over Germany in 16 years -- followed a World Cup campaign that saw Low's side eliminated in the group stage.

And speaking after goals from Virgil van Dijk, Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum had seen off the 2014 World Cup winners, Low said he knew the pressure on him would increase.

"Of course I have to expect that," he told reporters. "It is something I have to live with. We must all take responsibility for this result.

"Debate is normal, but it is my job to prepare the team properly for the match against France [on Tuesday]."

Low, under contract until 2022, has taken charge of 169 Germany matches -- more than any of his predecessors -- and has been at the helm for 12 years.

He said his team had paid the price for failing to take their chances and accused them of falling apart as Depay and Wijnaldum struck in the closing minutes.

"We played quite well until the opener. We had our chances, which we didn't put away, and had control of the game," the German FA website reported him as saying.

"After we conceded, you could see that we were lacking confidence because the results haven't been so great in recent months. Then we just fell apart in certain areas and lost our defensive line.

"It's difficult to answer why we are struggling for goals. We're creating chances, but simply aren't putting them away, which would have been very important for our confidence. The fact is, we had so many chances in the last two games but couldn't score. That's really bad.

"You can lose, and 1-0 would have been acceptable. It's bad that we fell apart like that in the last 10 minutes. The players have to take responsibility for that and not just run around like headless chickens in the final 10 minutes."

Germany captain Manuel Neuer said the players had told Low they were ready to meet the challenge of ending the poor run of form.

"I don't know if every single player is feeling insecure. That's something every player needs to ask himself," the goalkeeper said.

"We all made it clear to the head coach that we are ready for the challenge. When you lose that game, you obviously face a lot of criticism and people speak very negatively. But today could have gone very differently, as you could see."

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich noted in a statement that Low had opted not to substitute Jerome Boateng in Amsterdam after he suffered the calf problem that means he will not face France.

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