Germany made a statement in their final warm-up match ahead of EURO 2020, with Joachim Löw’s side beating Latvia 7-1. DFB.de gathered the reaction from Düsseldorf.
Thomas Müller: The result wasn’t the most important aspect today – it was more about the way we performed. It’s been a while since our last big win though, so it was a good feeling out there on the pitch. We’re well aware that it will be a very different kettle of fish against France, but it was still a commanding performance tonight.
Joachim Löw: There were many things that we did well, and we had a lot of chances. We had discussed several things that we still needed to improve on. During the first half, we had a lot of pace in attack, made good runs and pressed hard. Our tempo dropped off a bit in the second half. We still need to increase our intensity so that it extends over the full 90 minutes. Our finishing was more clinical tonight. That's been a topic that's come up often over the last months, and was an area where we made things hard for ourselves. Being more clinical, both on offence and defence is what we need. We wanted to find ways to break through their defence, against an opponent that was playing quite deep. Today, we did better at this than we have in some other games, which is what you need in order to find a way through. We could have defended better on the throw-in that led to their goal. Those are the kinds of situations where we lose focus for a moment and that's exactly what our opponents at the EUROs will seek to take advantage of. We need to be focused over the full 90 minutes. I don't want to see us concede off a throw-in. Today, it was important for us to gain match practice. I don't know yet if we will go with the same team against France. Several of the players will definitely be included, that's for sure.
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Germany made a statement in their final warm-up match ahead of EURO 2020, with Joachim Löw’s side beating Latvia 7-1. DFB.de gathered the reaction from Düsseldorf.
Thomas Müller: The result wasn’t the most important aspect today – it was more about the way we performed. It’s been a while since our last big win though, so it was a good feeling out there on the pitch. We’re well aware that it will be a very different kettle of fish against France, but it was still a commanding performance tonight.
Joachim Löw: There were many things that we did well, and we had a lot of chances. We had discussed several things that we still needed to improve on. During the first half, we had a lot of pace in attack, made good runs and pressed hard. Our tempo dropped off a bit in the second half. We still need to increase our intensity so that it extends over the full 90 minutes. Our finishing was more clinical tonight. That's been a topic that's come up often over the last months, and was an area where we made things hard for ourselves. Being more clinical, both on offence and defence is what we need. We wanted to find ways to break through their defence, against an opponent that was playing quite deep. Today, we did better at this than we have in some other games, which is what you need in order to find a way through. We could have defended better on the throw-in that led to their goal. Those are the kinds of situations where we lose focus for a moment and that's exactly what our opponents at the EUROs will seek to take advantage of. We need to be focused over the full 90 minutes. I don't want to see us concede off a throw-in. Today, it was important for us to gain match practice. I don't know yet if we will go with the same team against France. Several of the players will definitely be included, that's for sure.
