Neuer: Every Germany player questioned himself after World Cup exit

Manuel Neuer believes every Germany player questioned himself after their World Cup humiliation, but he and Julian Brandt each insisted the team is ready to move forward and prove to coach Joachim Low that they can still count on each other.

Germany’s defence of the World Cup in Russia proved a nightmare for Die Mannschaft as they were stunningly knocked out in the group stage, a 2-0 defeat to South Korea condemning them to an early exit.

Low’s men return to action in the UEFA Nations League against new world champions France on Thursday, and Neuer said in a pre-match media conference: “We’re trying to put this behind us and look to the future.

“After such a performance with such a result, you have to question yourself. I’m sure every player did that, looking at their part in it. Each and every player takes on their share of the responsibility. Just as the head coach and the entire coaching staff do.

“The analysis of the whole situation was presented last week, it was very detailed. Obviously, it’ll be discussed a lot in the aftermath. But for us it’s important to draw our conclusions and move forward and to work on the specifics, so that we move in the right direction in a positive way to return to successful football.”

Back to the grind Let’s give the #NationsLeague all we’ve got! #DieMannschaft #GERFRA pic.twitter.com/Y6dVmlyu1W

— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) September 4, 2018

Brandt echoed the goalkeeper’s sentiments, adding: “I think there’s always a lot of talk about the players being a team, but obviously the coach is also part of that team.

“I think we’re all playing for the team, in a way. The coach [Low] held a very long presser, in which he put a lot of blame on himself, but obviously, even though this topic will follow us around for a while, we’re trying to leave that behind and look to the future, starting this Thursday.

“We want to play well as a team. The coach – who is a part of the team as I mentioned before – together we’ll try to show him our best version and prove to him that he can still count on us, and that we can still count on him.

“I believe we have a great team spirit and I’m convinced we’ll be able to show that on Thursday in order to give him the conviction he deserves to feel from the players.”