Yet to play at our best: Koepke

Germany have not played well at times in the World Cup and the weaknesses are being critically analysed and discussed internally, assistant coach Andreas Koepke said on Wednesday.

“Obviously not everything has been ideal so far and we're aware of that,” Koepke told reporters when asked about the withering criticism back home and in the media about the team's struggles against Algeria, the United States, Ghana.

“And we don't beat around the bush about that in our internal discussions,” he added.

“These things are being addressed internally because we know if we don't address them we clearly won't advance further.”

Ahead of Germany’s quarterfinal against France in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, Koepke said he had ignored the critical media coverage as the three-times world champions have struggled since a dazzling 4-0 opening win over Portugal.

“Believe it or not, I don't read any newspapers and that's a good thing,” said Koepke.

“As far as all the experts out there and their opinions are concerned: if I talked to five experts, I'd get five different opinions about what the line-up should be.

“We have to decide what's best. We can't let ourselves be pressured. We've already got enough pressure on us.”

Koepke, who added the players have enjoyed seeing television pictures of huge public viewing gatherings back in Germany, said the criticism being heaped on the team was due largely to the extremely poor first half against Algeria.

“I think we improved in the second half and in extra time,” he said. “There are going to matches like that in tournaments. There's no question about it that we have to improve. And we will improve.”

Koepke, Germany's goalkeeper in their last tournament victory at the 1996 European Championship, said every German team that won a major title had had poor matches on the way.

“Even in 1990, everyone thinks we just marched through to win the World Cup,” he said.

“But there were matches on the edge, matches that weren't so good. Look what happened in the end.”