Joachim Loew believes that Aiden McGeady is the biggest threat to Germany tomorrow night when they face Ireland in Gelsenkirchen.
After a narrow win over Scotland and defeat from Poland the World Champions are under pressure in a group in which it was assumed they’d win with something to spare.
Ireland and Poland have full points from their opening matches with McGeady sparkling in the wins over Georgia and Gibraltar.
“(James) McClean is very strong, he has a really good left peg and McGeady too. (Robbie) Keane is experienced but he is always scoring his goals, he is clever. Of course we will prepare them.
“We have young players, (Antonio) Rudiger and (Erik) Durm, they have not too much experience in the national team but we are working with them and we are trying to prepare them for McGeady or for McClean.”Â
Looking at the position Germany are in Low added: “The difficulties we are experiencing at the moment are of a type that we have experienced many times before. But generally speaking, I don’t think the position now is any more difficult than it’s always been.
“We used to be the hunter; now we are the prey. We know that teams like Scotland will play with incredible motivation against us – but that was true even after (the World Cup in) 2010 and (Euro) 2012. We know the situation, we know how to get by it, but it’s no different now than it used to be.”
Ireland boss Martin O’Neill said: “I don’t think Germany will allow us the same sort of space to play in. But we are obviously going to encounter many different problems during the game. The Germans are world champions and they have a habit of qualifying for competitions.
“We have our own plan. I can’t turn around say, ‘Stick to plans’. Best-laid plans can disappear after five minutes in a match.
“We are going with some confidence into the game. If we are pressed back, then okay, but if we deliberately sit in, then Germany will eventually pick you off
“We want to try to attack as well. It’s a game to relish. It’s one where we want to go out and do something about the game, not just let the game disappear.”