Julian Nagelsmann hailed Germany's first-half display against the Netherlands as their best performance of 2024.

And Nagelsmann said his "supercharged" team have big ambitions after Monday's 1-0 win in Munich, which came a year to the day since he took charge of his first game—a 3-1 friendly win over the United States.

Germany are unbeaten in the Nations League after four games, and sit five points clear at the top of their group.

The Dutch did not manage a single shot in the first half, with Germany having eight themselves, albeit Nagelsmann's team had to wait until the 64th minute to make the breakthrough as Jamie Leweling marked his senior bow with the decisive goal.

"The first half tonight was the best we’ve played this year," said Nagelsmann.

"The greed that the team embodied was a huge step [forward].

"We did well and let very little in. We absolutely deserved to win.

"We've got the ambition to keep going. There's a supercharged atmosphere in the dressing room—they want to win."

An ecstatic Leweling told ZDF network: "We won as a team, I scored the 1-0, we won 1-0, but we did well and I'm just happy I could help out.

"The Dutch are a top nation, but we played a good game."

Leweling is the first debutant under Nagelsmann to score in his first appearance for Germany. Niclas Fullkrug was the last player to net on his senior debut, in 2022.

At the other end of the pitch, Nagelsmann handed a debut to goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.

Aged 34 years and 131 days, Baumann is the second-oldest Germany debutant (after Matthias Mauritz) in the post-war era and the oldest goalkeeper to make his debut for the national team.

Not that Baumann had much to do. Indeed, he had only one save to make, with the Netherlands mustering only one attempt on target and a meagre 0.13 expected goals.

Ronald Koeman believed his Netherlands side fell short in "all facets of football" after they slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Germany in the Nations League on Monday.

Jamie Leweling netted the only goal of the encounter at the Allianz Arena, marking his senior international debut in style to put his nation on the brink of qualification. 

The Netherlands struggled during the contest, ending the game with an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.13, with Donyell Malen's 89th minute effort their only attempt on target.

Koeman's side also managed just eight touches in the opposition box compared to Germany's 26, despite edging the possession at the full-time whistle. 

"If you go back too far, you bring that on yourself," Koeman said.

"We came up short on all sides, perhaps in all facets of football. We did things differently at half-time and then we got a bit more rest. But they were much better today.

"I am not satisfied by our performance. The Germans were the better, faster and physically stronger. They created more chances.

"We lost too many balls in the midfield. We went too far back. That was not the plan. The plan was to put pressure forward on the right side. But it did not happen."

The result leaves the Netherlands in second in Group A3, level on points with Hungary after Dominik Szoboszlai's double handed them a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Stand-in captain Stefan de Vrij echoed Koeman's thoughts after the encounter, saying his side deserved to lose against Germany.

"It seems clear to me that it was a deserved defeat," said De Vrij.

"The first half was very mediocre. We were very sloppy and gave away a number of balls just like that, which allowed them to become dangerous.

"In the second half it was a bit better, but it's hard to create chances."

The Lazio defender took the armband in place of Virgil van Dijk, who was suspended following his red card against Hungary.

Though the Netherlands did not do enough in attack, De Vrij said that Van Dijk's absence from the team had an impact. 

"Yes, of course you miss him. He's a very important player and he's our captain. And he's a great defender, so it makes sense that he's missed," De Vrij concluded.

Stuttgart extended their unbeaten run in the Bundesliga to eight games as their usual outlets delivered the goods in a 3-0 defeat of Hoffenheim on Saturday.

Where Deniz Undav faltered in front of goal, he made up for it with two assists for Enzo Millot and Serhou Guirassy, before Jamie Leweling emerged from the bench to put the contest to bed midway through the second half.

Millot's goal 16 minutes in was his third shot of the game, and capped a beautiful team move that involved Chris Fuhrich and Guirassy, before Undav slid in the midfielder for a simple open-bodied finish into the bottom-left corner.

Undav the provider notched his second assist after more fine Stuttgart interplay practically on the half-time whistle. It was a nonchalant ball that unlocked the Hoffenheim defence and Guirassy smashed home for his fifth goal in as many games, and his 22nd Bundesliga goal in just 20 appearances this term.

For Undav, the pair of assists took him up to 20 direct goal involvements in just 21 games – an addition to the evidence pile as to why Germany have called the Brighton loanee up for their upcoming friendlies against the Netherlands and France.

The visitors went three-up thanks to Leweling. There was to be no assist for Undav this time, as the substitute slammed home brilliantly from a corner.

As the triplet of goals tumbled through, it rang true to Stuttgart's opening prowess – they still have not lost in the last 16 games where they have opened the scoring.

It was a sorry performance from European hopefuls Hoffenheim, who mustered only one shot on target, while Stuttgart had 11 going the other way.