Hansi Flick: Germany were 'too respectful' in friendly defeat to Belgium

The DFB were down 0-2 within nine minutes as Yannick Carrasco and Romelu Lukaku found the back of the net.

Flick's charges seemed likely to concede more goals in the first half-hour, but they stepped up their game later on in the half and entered the dressing rooms 2-1 down after Niclas Fullkrug's penalty.

Kevin De Bruyne made it 3-1 in the 78th minute before a late consolation goal from Serge Gnabry.

"We were too passive in the first half hour, too respectful," said Flick in his post-match interview.

"We didn't put our opponents under pressure, and Belgium just outplayed us. We changed things after that, and got a bit of stability. The team played with a lot of passion.

"After half an hour we started doing things better and started putting pressure on the opposition. You could see that Belgium were making more mistakes then. For us it's important that we keep working on timing when we press."

Kimmich was similarly disappointed with the display, adding: "The first 30 minutes were very poor, and we were still in the dressing room for the first 15. We made so many mistakes and just didn't have desire.

"We controlled the second half, though, which was how we imagined the game going."

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