In a series of interviews with German newspapers, Joachim Low declared himself still highly motivated and implicitly ready to consider a contract renewal beyond 2018.
The Bundestrainer came across as hugely content and genuinely excited about the future potential of his team. In the short-term, however, the 56-year-old has to contend with one of these annoying imbalances that international football tends to throw up all too often. Germany go into the World Cup qualifying matches against the Czech Republic and Northern Ireland with too many midfielders to choose from and not enough strikers.
Injured VfL Wolfsburg attacker Mario Gomez, for so long an unwanted forward in the national team, is suddenly very much missed.
"It's a shame, because we don't have anyone like him," Low said.
Gomez, yet to score since his return to the Bundesliga this summer, would have made for a useful foil for the attacking players, at the very least. Both the Czechs and Northern Ireland (beaten 1-0 by Germany at Euro 2016) will line up with deep, massed defences. In France, Germany found that a central focal point up front helped to occupy defenders and free up spaces for attacking midfield, the strongest section of the national team, to exploit.
Without an orthodox No.9 in the squad, Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller and Borussia Dortmund's Mario Gotze will once again be compelled to make the telling runs in the final third and get on the end of attacking moves. The latter has been a bit-part player in Thomas Tuchel's rejuvenated Black and Yellows and still without a Bundesliga goal. Muller, too, has not found the net in the league this season.
The 26-year-old banished talk of "goal crisis" with his brace for Germany against Norway last month but his form has continued to be erratic. Low did not mention either by name but his warning the team needed to be more efficient when it comes to finishing reflected concerns about his regular goalscorers.
German Football Association analysts have found the side did better "in most key metrics" at Euro 2016 compared to the successful World Cup in Brazil, but they were let down by profligacy.
His team needed "12 to 13 chances to score one goal," at the Euros, Low claimed. These numbers might be skewed by the freakishly heroic performance of Northern Ireland keeper Michael McGovern in Paris -- he made half a dozen of point-blank saves -- but they do explain where Germany's game fell flat, especially in the semifinal defeat against France.