The visitors to Vienna seemed to be in control of the match when goals to Marco Reus and Mesut Oezil had them 2-0 up just after the interval, but Zlatko Junuzovic soon capitalised on some sloppy play to pull one back for the Austrians.

And Germany were made to endure a nervy final half-hour, with Austria registering a number of excellent chances, only to squander them to allow Loew's side to snatch all three points in Group C of UEFA qualifying.

"We made a lot of mistakes. Every one of Austria's chances was caused by one of our mistakes," Loew told ARD.

"We allowed Austria to get back into the match during the final four minutes."

Defender Philipp Lahm was one of the Germany players most culpable of sloppy play, and although he is happy to have come out on top, he has urged his team to lift their game.

"We have six points after two matches. This is a really good start. But we cannot be satisfied with this match. The opponents put us under pressure very early and we could not handle it," Lahm said.

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was also happy with the result, but warned that a repeat performance would prove costly in the future.

"We can be happy with the result and the points, but not with the match. Austria's chances were because of the mistakes," the shot-stopper said.

Forward Thomas Mueller said the team had approached the game expecting a tough encounter, but had failed to produce an ideal performance despite winning the contest.

"It was the difficult match we were expecting. We did not put in a perfect showing, and there were a lot of mistakes," the Bayern Munich attacker said.

Germany continue their qualifying campaign on October 12 when they travel to the Republic of Ireland.