Löw: "Satisfied with attacking play, still problems at the back"

Die Mannschaft suffered a 3-1 friendly defeat to Slovakia in their penultimate game before the European Championship in France begins. Conditions were difficult for Joachim Löw's team, as thunder, lightning and torrential rain saw kick-off delayed in the second half.

Germany coach Joachim Löw on...

...his team's performance: I'm satisfied with our attacking play. We produced several good moves and ran into the channels well, but defensively we had problems again if I'm honest. Perhaps this was because we had two number 10s on the pitch in Götze and Draxler. That gave Slovakia too much space.

...the newcomers' performances: The overall impression from the last few weeks and months is what matters. We can't expect too much from these young players in a game like today. But all four [Brandt, Kimmich, Weigl and Leno] have enough quality to have great futures. After that game, what's important for us is that all our players are healthy. We still have a meeting with our medical staff to find out how long it will take Mats Hummels, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Marco Reus to get fit.

...the weather conditions: I've never experienced anything like that before. This was the longest half-time interval I ever seen. There is a clear rule: Once the 15-minute break is over, the referee has a maximum of 30 minutes to restart the match. Lighting and hail can clearly be dangerous and you don't want to take any risks. Those conditions can lead to dangerous situations. We needed a few minutes to get adjusted to the pitch conditions. I tried to help the players from the sidelines. We needed to win more balls in the final third, as passing became difficult on the wet surface.

Mario Götze: I think that it's good for us to have experienced such difficult conditions today. Anything can happen in France so it wasn't such a bad thing to test the waters today. Obviously we conceded silly goals. It was difficult to play in the second half in those conditions. It was important for me to get the full 90 minutes under my belt. I'm looking forward to the upcoming games.

Leroy Sané: The pitch was a bit flooded, but it's something we have to deal with. We needed to change our approach, stop dribbling with the ball and play more short passes. I hope that I will make the 23-man squad. I feel I could have done more today.

Julian Weigl: Of course I had pictured my debut going differently, but some things can't be influenced. I would have liked to have won the game. The pitch conditions were very difficult in the second half. I definitely tried to give it everything out there on the pitch.

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