Following their first competitive defeat for 28 months, and ahead of tomorrow’s visit of the Republic of Ireland, Germany manager Joachim Löw has rubbished talk of the World

champions being on the wane.

Losing 2-0 to Poland on Saturday in their second European Championship Group D tie brings with it added pressure to account for Martin O’Neill’s side who have opened the campaign with back-to-back victories over the group’s two lowest ranked nations.

A much tougher proposition awaits Ireland at the Veltins Arena to that they encountered in Georgia, and especially for Saturday’s stroll past Gibraltar, yet the German manager has admitted his new-look side will need time to reach the heights achieved during the summer in Brazil.

Speaking yesterday upon the squad’s return to their camp in Düsseldorf from Warsaw, Löw said the loss of characters amongst the group arising from the retirement of Philipp Lahm and Miro Klose was compounded by the injury-enforced absence of Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mesut Özil.

Since lifting their first World Cup in 24 years, the Germans were soundly beaten at home by Argentina in a friendly before struggling past Scotland 2-1 in their opener for the current campaign. Then came the most seismic of the set- backs on Saturday with Poland’s first victory over them in 83 years.

Missing players

“We are missing four or five players who have always played with us and characterised the team,” explained the 54-year-old. “In the next two years, our young players must have experiences from which they learn.”

Although such a transitional period getting underway for their group’s top seeds may suit Ireland in terms of this fixture’s timing, Löw and his players seem unified in their perception of a nation they drilled nine goals into over two qualifiers in the last World Cup campaign.

“Ireland’s tactics will be similar to Poland’s, as we know well from games against them in recent years,” said the manager. “They are a team that defends and plays mainly on the counterattack. However, we will look to exploit them.”

Full-back Erik Durm echoed that view, emphasising the onus on Germany tomorrow to rediscover their clinical streak abundantly bereft in Poland.

“I’m sure Ireland will go on the defensive against us on Tuesday and drop many players deep behind the ball,” said the 22-year-old. “If we attack like we did against Poland by creating as many chances, I know we will beat Ireland. Against Poland, they created two chances and scored from both. We had 15 in the second half but just couldn’t finish any of them.”

Bad finishing

Löw identified the source of their anguish on Saturday. “Our game execution in the game was good, our finishing wasn’t,” was his assessment.

“It (the finishing) was reckless. We didn’t score from 28 attempts on goal but I’m sure we will balance again against Ireland.”

Admitting that Germany’s success has made them become the scalp every nation wants, their manager is forecasting the team to emerge from their slow start to the campaign and seal a place to the 2016 finals in France.

“I do not see any major problems in this qualification group,” Löw asserted. “What doesn’t surprise is that every team that plays against the world champions raises their game by a few more percent.

“So life is not harder, despite all the disappointment over the defeat against Poland. Life is much, much nicer than before the World Cup.”