Low vows to stick to attacking philosophy

Joachim Low has promised that Germany will persist with their attacking brand of football when the FIFA World Cup gets under way in Brazil.

Runners-up in 2002 and third in both 2006 and 2010, the Germans are among the favourites to be crowned world champions for a fourth time.

Low is preparing to steer the side into their fourth major tournament under his stewardship, with the nation having developed a reputation for producing young, exciting footballers who play an expansive brand of the game.

In an interview with FIFA.com, Low has pledged to continue with that philosophy, despite misgivings from elsewhere over the impact such a style could have on Germany’s defensive stability.

“We’ve analysed all of our games from the last two years very closely,” he said.

“We’ve lost a bit of speed in our transitional play so obviously we’ll be paying special attention to correcting that, but we don’t need to change our playing style because we’ve got a philosophy we’re all 100 per cent behind.

“Part of our preparations involve helping the new players take that philosophy on board. We will of course also take a close look at how we defend, but that’s something the whole team must be involved in, not just the back line.

“We have our own system and we have faith in it. An essential part of our philosophy is flexibility and that’s the trend I’m expecting to see in Brazil.

“Teams have to be able to vary their tactics now more than at any time in the past. Playing with just a single system isn’t enough nowadays.”

Germany’s World Cup campaign starts against Portugal a week on Monday.