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Loew: Squad '100%' behind philosophy

Joachim Loew has revealed his concerns over the speed of Germany's "transitional" play ahead of the World Cup, but says the squad is "100 percent" behind his playing philosophy.

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Loew's preparation for the World Cup has been dogged by injuries and unconvincing performances: Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger are all struggling for fitness while Marco Reus has been ruled out after injuring his ankle against Armenia.

The coach says he is likely to lose his job if Die Nationalmannschaft fail to emerge from Group G this summer, but Loew believes the group mentality of his squad will guide them to success.

"The closer we get to a tournament the calmer I become because I know that we've thought of everything, and I have faith in that," he told fifa.com. "I'm now able to deal with high-pressure situations very well and I even enjoy them actually.

"We've analysed all of our games from the last two years very closely. 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."

Loew is also looking forward to a reunion with Jurgen Klinsmann in the group stages: the 54-year-old was the latter's assistant for Germany between 2004 and 2006, and the pair meet again with the former Germany striker now coaching the U.S national team.

"It's not the first time it's happened as we faced the same situation on our USA tour last summer, but of course this time there's a lot more at stake," he continued. "I'm always happy to see Jurgen and we've stayed in close contact. I value his opinion and it's always interesting to hear what he thinks about certain situations and ideas, away from football too.

"Jurgen is a very good coach with some outstanding qualities. He's such a positive character and is always open, but is meticulous and wants to win above all else. We worked well together as a team and it was an unbelievably eventful and influential period of time. I know that I owe Jurgen a great deal."