FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Goalless up front, carefree at the back: Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy remains mired in a slump even after the wild 3-3 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt. Nevertheless, he continues to receive backing from teammates and club officials. "I'm still standing by him," said Dortmund coach Niko Kovac, addressing Guirassy's goal drought in the Bundesliga.

Since October 31, when he scored in the 1-0 win on Matchday 9 against FC Augsburg, the 29-year-old has failed to find the net in Germany's top flight. Every striker has to "go through a dry spell now and then," Kovac explained, adding: "He'll come out of it."

Guirassy Brings Eintracht Back Into the Game

Particularly bitter from Guirassy's perspective: not only did the striker fail to make an impact up front in the opening match of Matchday 16 in Frankfurt, but he also fouled Eintracht defender Robin Koch in his own penalty area. The resulting penalty was converted by Frankfurt's young star Can Uzun to make it 1-1.

"He knows himself that he shouldn't have gone in like that. Out of ten times, something like that happens once; it's annoying in that situation because we had Frankfurt well under control for the first 20 minutes," said Guirassy's teammate Waldemar Anton, adding: "It brought them back into the game. But it's okay, we still had enough chances afterwards and could have won the match."

From Top Scorer to Problem Child

Kovac told pay-TV broadcaster Sky that Guirassy couldn't be blamed. "It happens all too often in the Bundesliga: someone just sticks a foot out, gets hit, and it's a penalty," the coach said. National player Nico Schlotterbeck also didn't want to make a big deal of the incident: "Next time he'll score again, and then everything will be fine."

But exactly when that "next time" will come remains to be seen. Guirassy is currently a long way from his form of last season, when he scored 21 Bundesliga goals. Instead, the Guinean international is now at risk of losing his starting spot. It's possible that Kovac will opt for Portuguese striker Fábio Silva in Tuesday's (8:30 p.m.) home game against Werder Bremen. According to the 54-year-old, Silva "really stirred things up" against Eintracht./cjo/DP/zb