download All Football App

Germany gear up for Nations League clash with Holland

  /  autty

Joachim Low put his Germany players through their paces ahead of their clash with Holland on Monday as they look to end their disastrous 2018 on a high.

Germany followed up a limp defence of their World Cup crown - in which they exited at the group stages in Russia over the summer - by being relegated from the top tier of European countries in the Nations League.

But Low and his players will be desperate to make a statement of intent against a rejuvenated Dutch side, who beat world champions France on Friday to guarantee Germany's relegation to League B.

And on Sunday, the likes of Marco Reus, Mats Hummels, Leroy Sane and Manuel Neuer were very hard at work on the eve of the European clash against their rivals, who can earn a spot in the Nations League semi-finals with victory.

Ahead of the match at the Veltins-Arena, Low has been speaking about Germany's sudden demise, four years on from their World Cup triumph in Brazil.

And Low admitted the team's demise was unexpected but part of a normal cycle in sport and he is now focused on what the former world champions need to do to rise again.

'We now want to say goodbye (to 2018) with a good performance and show the fans that we are on the right track to recovery,' the 58-year-old said in his pre-match press conference.

'We had a decade of rising to the top and there sometimes can be a year where nothing works,' said the German.

'It was something completely new for me. Now we have reached a phase where we have to renew things, improve, start from scratch. We need to draw the right conclusions and take the right measures.'