SEVILLE • Germany are running out of time to have an overhauled yet competitive team at next year's European Championship, with coach Joachim Low's changes so far failing to deliver.

A 6-0 demolition by Spain on Tuesday was their heaviest defeat in 89 years and only added to their fluctuating form in recent months.

Low tried to put on a brave front, labelling the hammering as a "disastrous day" but the 60-year-old, in his 14th year in charge, has now seen his team exit in the first round of a tournament for the third straight time.

The 2014 World Cup winners suffered their first group-stage exit four years later in Russia and Die Mannschaft failed to win a single game in last year's inaugural Nations League.

Low has attempted to bring in fresh blood by dropping the veteran trio of Thomas Muller, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels, who were all cornerstones of their triumph in Brazil.

But they have now won just three of their last eight internationals and their Group 4 loss to Spain meant the hosts advanced to the Nations League Finals at the visitors' expense.

The rout could have been far worse had the Spaniards, who netted via Alvaro Morata, Rodri, Mikel Oyarzabal and a treble by Ferran Torres, not been wasteful in front of goal, leaving Low and midfielder Toni Kroos shell-shocked.

"We saw today that we are not as far down the road as we had hoped to be," said Low.

"After the first goal, we just gave up being organised. That was deadly. We charged out and just opened up all the spaces. We forgot about our game plan and just ran around out there.

"I really don't know what happened to the team. We had hardly any chances and we didn't win a single individual battle out on the pitch. This has been a black day for us."

Kroos added: 'This is definitely one of the worst defeats of my career. It hurts."​

With mounting criticism and his refusal to recall Hummels, Boateng and Muller, Low has worked himself in a corner.

Mesut Ozil, who retired from international football after being made the scapegoat for their World Cup exit, put the boot in, tweeting: "Time to take Jerome Boateng back."

German media were equally scathing, with news magazine Der Spiegel calling it "a slap in the face", while television channel Welt said the team "was not defeated, it was destroyed".

Newspaper Bild also claimed that Low's position was now "wobbling after the disaster".

But national team director Oliver Bierhoff insisted that there were no plans to sack him, even though he likened the hammering to the way Brazil "fell apart" in the 7-1 drubbing by Germany in 2014.

Asked if the coach was safe until the postponed Euro 2020, he told ARD TV: "Absolutely yes. This game changes nothing. We still trust Joachim Low, no doubt about that."

Germany will play again in March with a large pool of players to chose from. But without a core of starting players, the transformation remains a work in progress.

Low, however, still feels he is the man to turn things around, pointing to the absentees in Seville, including Joshua Kimmich, Lukas Klostermann and Kai Havertz.

"I have faith in my players," he added.

"Now our responsibility is to question everything and question ourselves as well. We have to draw the right conclusions."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS