Fortuna Dusseldorf attacking midfielder Robbie Kruse has admitted that playing in Germany has forced him to work on his all-round game.

Kruse said that in Australia he only had to focus on the attacking side of his game, but he has concentrated on his fitness and defending skills since moving to Germany.

"I think in Australia I was only really attack-minded and probably shirked my defensive duties a lot," he told Australian FourFourTwo.

"Moving here to Germany they're massive on work rate and doing both sides of the game so I definitely worked on my defending and getting my body into good shape."

Kruse has scored six goals in 24 appearances for Dusseldorf this season.