Germany aren't in crisis, Spain answer critics, Tardelli gives Brazil options

ESPN FC's Steve Nicol analyses Germany's loss to Poland in their European championship qualifier.

Relax. It's a blip, not a wake-up call: that's the message coming from Joachim Low's camp after Germany's 2-0 defeat in Warsaw.
International football has a way of magnifying results over performance. And because Germany haven't exactly impressed since being crowned world champions in July, some folks are fretting. They lost 4-2 at home to Argentina in the rematch in September. They beat Scotland at home by a slim 2-1 margin. And now, this defeat to Poland.
But in fact, Low is right: the sky isn't falling. Not just yet. Germany outshot Poland 22-4 and dominated possession. Numbers can sometimes be empty, but on the road against an opponent that's always highly motivated against you, they're significant.

Low's team are in transition but fortunately have plenty of time before these defeats become meaningful.

Low's crew were confident and imposed themselves; what determined the result was the old bugbear. Up front, Thomas Muller brings plenty to the table, but he's not exactly a dead-eye finisher. The fact that when reinforcements came they arrived in the form of Lukas Podolski isn't great either: there's a reason that, League Cup aside, he has yet to start a game for Arsenal this season. Indeed, in the Premier League and Champions League, he has played more minutes for the world champions than he has for the Gunners this year. Yet it was Podolski who rattled the woodwork late on, suggesting that he maybe still has something to give.
At the back, Manuel Neuer went haywire for the first goal and the whole back four looked wobbly against the counter. Mats Hummels took his poor club form with him into the national side, while the young full-back pairing of Erik Durm and Antonio Rudiger -- 22 and 21 years old respectively -- were far from irresistible against the home side's counterattack.

Germany did lose in Poland on Saturday but they were still dominant enough to make the result insignificant.

But these are the growing pains you get when there's a generational change. When Marco Reus and Ilkay Gundogan return, it will be an instant upgrade in the final third and in the middle of the park. The same can be said about Benedikt Howedes, at least in terms of being an alternative to the centre-backs if Hummels gets injured again or doesn't regain his form.
You can budget for a stumble or two (or actually even three or four) given the expanded qualification for Euro 2016. What matters is that Low learned where his crew is and what needs to be worked on.