Germany coach Joachim Low felt his side "got lucky'' after a late header from Mats Hummels secured a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in Prague to maintain their 100 percent record in World Cup qualifying Group C.
The world champions went ahead after only four minutes through RB Leipzig forward Timo Werner, but were then forced on the back foot as the hosts rallied at the Eden Arena.
A stunning effort from Hertha Berlin midfielder Vladimir Darida, which crashed in off the crossbar, brought the Czechs a deserved equaliser after 78 minutes.
However, there was still time for Germany to secure the victory which guarantees at least a play-off place in Group C when Bayern Munich defender Hummels looped in a header from a free-kick.
Low, though, was less than impressed by the manner of their seventh successive qualifying win.
"We definitely cannot be happy with the way we played tonight. We won, and that's what counts, but we got lucky,'' Low said at a news conference, quoted on www.dfb.de.
"Czech Republic defended well, but we also made things very difficult for ourselves.
"It felt like we had a lot of possession, but just couldn't break through their lines. We didn't create anything for the whole game and deserved a draw.
"I really wanted to bring lots of attackers on to the pitch. With six of them it meant we could make use of the space, but it also meant we were lacking defensively. We coughed the ball up far too much.''
Defender Hummels accepted the team performance had to improve for Monday's nights match against Norway in Stuttgart.
He said: "We had a lot of problems, but the biggest was that we gave the ball away too easily. We weren't patient enough, we tried to force things, and we gave them too much space.
"I can't think of a German side that did that more than we did tonight, that is not the football that we know we can play. However, it was still very important that we won.''