The 2010 World Cup finalists were well beaten as Miroslav Klose scored once and set up goals for Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil in a comfortable victory for the Germans which underlined their credentials as one of the strongest contenders for glory at Euro 2012 next summer.

Van Marwijk told the Dutch federation's national team website www.onsoranje.nl: "This defeat hurts. It did not look good to us. Germany are very good on the counter-attack. They were already good in that area, but now they also play very good football generally.

"I cannot make any excuses. The defeat was justified. Our most creative players were not there. Germany has a wider potential pool of players anyway. Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger were not even on. Germany has a lot of creative players.

"In the first quarter of the match we played well and we even had the first opportunity. Then we have lost on the small details that make the difference at the highest level. Our defence did not look good. We started the second half well but after 3-0 it was over."

Van Marwijk was adamant he would not fear a meeting with Germany at the finals in Poland and Ukraine next summer, but the game had only reinforced his belief in the strength of the Nationalmannschaft, who won 10 out of 10 qualifying matches.

"I don't fear Germany, (but) I do have respect for them - and I had that before this match," he added.

The result meant the year ended on a low note for the Dutch, who failed to win any of their last three games of 2011.

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Holland playmaker Wesley Sneijder tried to put the defeat into perspective.

"It's painful, but we would rather lose now than later at the European Championship," he told Voetbal International.

"In the first half we played nicely and we had opportunities to score. After the break, Germany were hanging on in my opinion and the game looked more like going to 2-1 than 3-0. If you can make that breakthrough, you can go for 2-2. I only felt that we had lost at 3-0."

The Inter Milan star added: "This is a deserved defeat but we have a break now until February and then we will seriously start working towards the European Championship."