3 moves Nuri Sahin must make to keep his job at Borussia Dortmund

Nuri Sahin enjoyed a stellar career as a player at Borussia Dortmund, but his tenure as manager of the black and yellow has been mediocre at best. Friday's loss at Eintracht Frankfurt only emboldened fans of the German club to call for a change in leadership for the squad.

Club director Sebastian Kehl continues to publicly support his embattled manager. The leadership's patience is not infinite though. If Sahin wants to keep his job it's time for him to change things up. Here are three moves Sahin can make to turn things around at Dortmund and increase his job security.

3. Drop Emre Can permanently

Emre Can is the club captain which makes dropping him from the squad a bit of a risky proposition for Sahin. It's a bold move the manager must make. Can's lack of pace makes him a reliability no matter where he plays on the pitch.

Dortmund hoped that moving him to centre-back might mitigate his speed issues but it has not worked out that way. The club's attack does a good job of winning the possession battle in most matches but that does make them susceptible to counterattacks. Can lacks the pace required to get back into position to snuff out opposing attacks.

The fact that he's also a liability with the ball at his feet makes him unplayable. His range of passing has always been limited and now he's starting to telegraph anything he tries to play forward. He's guilty of giving the ball away to start far too many counterattacks.

Can might rebel if he's dropped but that's a risk Sahin needs to take. The locker room will understand why their captain is falling out of favor. He's no longer good enough to justify a place in the team's starting XI.

2. Give Gio Reyna an extended run in the starting XI

Reyna's career at Dortmund has been a rollercoaster. Injuries have derailed the USMNT star every time he seems to get a foothold in the squad. He's healthy at the moment though and he deserves more trust from his manager.

At the very least, Dortmund should not entertain further interest from AC Milan in their mercurial midfield attacker. Selling him would leave Sahin short of creators in the midfield. That's not a weakness his system can handle.

Instead of selling him, it's time for Dortmund to elevate Reyna to their starting No. 10 for a number of games. Julian Brandt has struggled to create anything in the final third for Sahin in recent weeks. His effort on the defensive end of the pitch has never been anything more than poor. Giving Reyna a chance to inject some life into the club's moribund attack would be a clever change by Sahin.

1. Play Jamie Gittens and Karim Adeyemi together

Dortmund have two of the most electrifying wingers in Europe at their disposal. The problem is Sahin is reluctant to play them both at the same time. Both might prefer to operate on the left wing but it's time for Sahin to ask one of them to put their ego aside and operate on the right.

The sheer amount of pace that would be deployed could terrify opponents. Gittens is enjoying a breakout campaign based around his uncanny ability to cut in on the left flank and fire the ball into the top corner. Adeyemi's campaign has not gotten off the ground due to injury, but he is fit now and has the same ability with his left foot coming in from the right wing.

Playing both speedy wingers at once could also help unlock Serhou Guisarry's ability to create scoring opportunities in the middle of the pitch. He thrives on crosses but can also shift the ball quickly to get off quick strikes when he's working one-on-one with against isolated defenders.

Critics of this tactic might point out that neither Gittens or Adeyemi is accomplished when it comes to tracking runners or working back to retrieve the ball. That's an effort issue Sahin needs to address with the entire squad. Pairing Gittens with Adeyemi would give the team a dimension they lack at the moment and desperately need.