Kovač ahead of Frankfurt clash: “Creative break” for Guirassy? | OneFootball

Things are happening in quick succession. After the dramatic 1-0 victory against 1. FC Köln, Borussia Dortmund already faces its next challenge on Tuesday (October 28, 6:30 p.m.). In the DFB-Pokal, the journey continues to Eintracht Frankfurt.

It was on the Main where Niko Kovač (54) began his coaching career in the Bundesliga. In March 2016, he took over the struggling Hessians and saved them from relegation to the second division in the playoffs. Two years later, he held the DFB-Pokal in his hands and bid farewell to join FC Bayern Munich. “I’m happy to come back to Frankfurt,” the BVB coach said at Monday’s press conference before the match, “but I want to win the game tomorrow against my old love.”

Kovač is well aware of the strength of the Bundesliga’s sixth-placed team. It will be “a difficult away game,” predicts the Berlin native. He knows both the strengths and the weaknesses of Eintracht. “They have scored a lot of goals, but have also conceded quite a few,” the football coach observes.

With 21 goals scored, Frankfurt has the league’s second-best offense after Bayern Munich (30), but with 18 goals conceded, they also share the second-worst defense with Mönchengladbach. Only FC Augsburg is worse off (20). “They have a lot of potential, they are young and talented,” Kovač judges, and announces: “We have to play our game from the 1st to the 90th or even 120th minute.”

Silva for Guirassy?

Serhou Guirassy (29) in particular would be someone who could exploit the defensive weaknesses of the Eagles. But the Black and Yellows’ top scorer is currently struggling with a goal drought. In his last seven competitive matches, the Guinean has found the net only once. An unusually weak record for the center forward. Thigh problems and, most recently, a cold have been affecting him.

“I see that he’s not scoring at the moment,” says the Dortmund head coach. But he also notes that Guirassy is “working hard.” “It happens in a striker’s life that the balls just don’t go in,” Kovač is unconcerned. “I have his back; he is and remains a very, very important player.” It’s not out of the question that the BVB coach might give his goal-getter “a creative break” at some point.

An alternative to Guirassy would be Fábio Silva. But the 23-year-old Portuguese “still needs to catch up physically,” says Kovač. He therefore doesn’t see him “over 90 minutes yet.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.