Hajime Hosogai has implored Hertha Berlin to avoid conceding easy goals to the Bundesliga's top sides.
The fifth-placed Die Alte Dame were beaten 3-2 by league leaders Bayern Munich last weekend and Japanese midfielder Hosogai suggests they need to be tougher to score against if they want to keep up with the top few teams in the German top flight.
In the wake of the Bayern loss, in which Hosogai took on the likes of Mario Gotze, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger, the former Bayer Leverkusen man insisted he also needed to get better in order to help his club climb the table.
"I just do my best, whoever I'm up against, but I was facing some world-class players ," he said.
"What I think now is that I need to improve even more. We've got some tough games ahead. If we want to keep pace with the top sides, we can't afford to keep giving away easy goals when we play them."
He added: "We wanted to test ourselves against a side of Bayern's quality. It's just a pity we didn't manage to come away with a point."
