Madrid, Nov 19 (IANS): Spain coach Vicente del Bosque brushed away criticism of Spain's defeat at home to Germany by explaining he had been carrying out experiments with his side.

The Spanish lost the match between the current and former World Cup winners 0-1 Tuesday to a late Tony Kroos goal in a game where their rivals enjoyed more possession that they did for the first time in 86 games, reports Xinhua.

It was Spain's fifth defeat of 2014, the first time the Spanish have lost so many matches in a year since 1992, but Del Bosque, who handed debuts to Nolito, Alvaro Morata, Jose Callejon and Kiko Casilla during the game, was not too worried by the setback.

"We are in a period of transition and we want to continue looking to the future with optimism," he said, admitting however, he was "not happy with all of the conclusions of the match."

"It was an even game but one moment from Kroos, who played very well, decided the match. I'll take the positives from the players that took part and we must think about March 27 when we will play our next (Euro 2016) qualifier. We have to look for and build a team," Del Bosque said Tuesday.

Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas had started for Spain in his 160th international game, but made way for Casilla with 20 minutes to go.

Spain will return to European qualifying action against Ukraine and by then Del Bosque will hope to have a settled starting 11. The row over the commitment of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabrigas to the national team, after missing out the friendly through injury, didn't affect the team, Del Bosque said.