Joachim Low has asked his players to focus on defence as Germany look towards another win in their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign against Austria Friday.

Germany are in control of their group, and hold a five point lead over Austria with four games remaining in the qualifying phase.

Low held a meeting with his defenders recently during the training camp, and Per Mertesacker is determined to ensure there are no unnecessary leaky goals conceded against Austria on Friday.

"We discussed the basic principles of our defensive play, concerning the back four in particular," the Arsenal defender said. "I think it was a good idea, especially after the game against Paraguay and because we hadn't got together for a while. Basically, we just went over the defensive philosophy of the national team.

"You have to remember that when we played Paraguay (the game finished 3-3), it was hardly the ideal time for an international friendly. Still, we wanted to play well for the fans. We wanted to play attacking football and entertain them, but we can't afford to neglect our defensive duties. Unfortunately in that game we didn't adhere to the defensive principles that have made us so strong in recent years.

"It's the normal reflex (to criticize the defence), but I can't say I really follow what's written or said in the press. I don't have the time. Either way, the important thing for me is how things are assessed internally, where mistakes are analysed more precisely.

"Here, we all know that conceding is normally a result of a mistake further up the pitch - not that I want to point the finger at other parts of the team. It would be ridiculous for the defence to shun responsibility for conceding goals. It's not important to single out players for individual errors, though. The important thing is to look at why a mistake was made and how we can avoid it happening again in future."

Mertesacker expects a tough game against Austria. "Austria have a good team," he added. "They've got a number of players from the Bundesliga and some great individuals. The team has developed under Marcel Koller and they're certainly capable of causing other teams problems. It's not going to be easy, but we're well prepared."

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