Guirassy or Fábio Silva? Kovač speaks out ahead of BVB clash with Bremen | OneFootball

Serhou Guirassy has lost his scoring touch. The 29-year-old goal-getter from Borussia Dortmund is experiencing a goal drought. Summer newcomer Fábio Silva (23) is pushing for a spot in the starting eleven. Is Guirassy facing a place on the bench against Werder Bremen (January 13, 8:30 PM)?

Guirassy has come up empty in the last seven Bundesliga matches. Will Silva’s moment come against the team from the Weser? Niko Kovač (54) is keeping his cards close to his chest. “I always reward good performances,” emphasized the BVB coach at Monday’s press conference ahead of the match. “But I won’t reveal anything today.”

One aspect is particularly important to Kovač: “Performance counts.” Guirassy is “generally a very calm character” and “still our best attacker.” The Guinean is “giving his all in training.” In the wild 3-3 draw against Frankfurt last Friday, Silva made “a good impact” after coming on in the 66th minute and “took his chance.” The Dortmund head coach will likely only reveal his solution to the striker puzzle when the team lineup is announced an hour before kickoff.

Kovač supports and protects Guirassy

Kovač announces that he will by no means abandon Guirassy despite his goal drought. “I protect and support him,” says the coach. He knows that the center forward “wants to achieve more.” As second in the table, BVB has only scored 29 goals (1.8 per match). “We’re missing a few goals,” the Berlin native also notes.

In his first season in the black and yellow kit, Guirassy scored 38 goals in 50 matches. With nine goals in 24 appearances, the Guinean is falling short this season by comparison. “Sometimes there are such slumps,” Kovač remains calm. And further: “We build the boy up and help him. We did that when things were going well, and we’re doing it now.”

Against Frankfurt, the usually stable defense looked shaky. For only the third time this Bundesliga season, BVB conceded three goals. As against FC St. Pauli and VfB Stuttgart, the scoreboard showed a 3-3 draw. “We’re not managing, after taking the lead, to score a second goal so that we have a cushion of two goals,” Kovač criticizes his team’s performance. For him, it’s clear: “If you want to win these games, you have to add a second goal, or defend well at the end.”

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