Former world champion Bastian Schweinsteiger and German goalkeeping icon Oliver Kahn say the focus on Germany's World Cup fiasco should be the players' virtues and responsibility rather than coach Julian Nagelsmann.
ARD pundit Schweinsteiger, who helped Germany to the 2014 title, said that something has gone wrong in the years since with regards to the battling qualities German sides had previously been known for.
"We have given up or neglected our own strengths - probably some people don't want to hear this - our virtues, for which we were respected abroad," said the 41-year-old.
"What we have lost is robustness, identity, fight. Other teams have that. All my former rivals tell me: 'You have lost your DNA and you can't even play football as well any more. That's why you went out.'"
Defeats to Ecuador and Paraguay in North America have sunk Germany to a new low after group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022.
Kahn, whose side lost to Brazil in the 2002 final, spoke in similar terms.
In his view, the debate about the coach misses the point, the former world class goalkeeper wrote on LinkedIn.
"Three head coaches have failed at the same point (sic): Joachim Löw, Hansi Flick and Julian Nagelsmann. Three different ideas of play. Three different leadership styles. The same outcome: in the group stage at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, now in the round of 32 against Paraguay," Kahn mused.
"If three coaches with different approaches always fail at the same point, the cause runs deeper."
