Mats Hummels says Germany produced an arrogant performance in their 4-1 win over Azerbaijan on Sunday.
Joachim Low's side made it five wins from five games in World Cup qualifying Group C thanks to goals from Thomas Muller, Mario Gomez and an Andre Schurrle double in Baku.
The world champions were not at their best at the Tofiq Bahramov stadium and were given a scare in the first half, when Dimitrij Nazarov became the first player to score against them in the campaign to reach Russia 2018.
And Hummels believes they made the home side look stronger than necessary in what the Bayern Munich centre-back felt was a complacent display.
"We made Azerbaijan look two classes better than they are," he told RTL. "We were a little bit arrogant - I don't think that's good.
"That made the game much more difficult than it needed to be."
5 – This is the best start into a WC qualification for . Germany won all of their 5 games and scored 20-1 goals. Record. March 26, 2017
Schurrle, who marked his first international start since 2015 with two goals and an assist, felt Germany were not effective enough at winning head-to-head battles.
"It was hard work," said the Borussia Dortmund forward. "We were too weak in the duels and we lost the ball a lot. But in the crucial moments we made it count.
"My performance is a lot about the confidence that Jogi Low gives me. I can go back to Dortmund with a good feeling."
Head coach Low was happy with the result given Germany's last competitive match came on November 11 against San Marino, although he conceded there are aspects upon which to improve.
"I'm only satisfied with results," he said. "We have fulfilled our duty, but that was not the manner we wanted to show. It wasn't up to our standards.
"You could tell that we haven't played together for four months. Some of the automatic things are missing. It wasn't all gold."
