Former Celtic defender Allan Stubbs believes Hoops centre-back Christopher Jullien made a mistake on social media last year.
Jullien has come in for a rough time of it over the last 24 hours. A dreadful display up against Kilmarnock’s powerful striker Nicke Kabamba cost Celtic two points yesterday at Rugby Park. It brought to the fore those same issues Jullien had last season in dealing with physical forwards.
Kabamba, Lyndon Dykes, Marios Ogboe, and Ross Stewart all forced errors from the Frenchman last term. And after his first runaround off Livi striker Dykes, Jullien published an apology on Instagram where he admitted he was “nervous” and that Dykes’ physicality was a wake-up call.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3r8TOyoDvQ/?utm_source=ig_embed
At the time, it looked reasonable enough and refreshingly honest from the Celtic man. But Stubbs, speaking in comments published by the Evening Express, doesn’t believe those sentiments have helped him.
“I don’t think it’s ideal when you come out and say you don’t like the physical side of it, coming up against that different type of player. And it’s happened on a few occasions now, at Livingston last year he got ruffled up a little bit by Dykes and looked uncomfortable.
“But I have got to say on other occasions he looked a really classy centre-back. I think that’s why it’s important you have maybe got a different type of centre-back, so when you are coming up against a team who are going to use the physical side of the game, that you have a different option Neil can call upon.
“It’s difficult to embed into someone how to be more aggressive. More often than not it’s either in you or it’s not. You either want to go and head it or you don’t, you either want to win a tackle or you don’t. I think he’s more of a player who likes to read the game, play with his brain, rather than get in someone’s face and get really tight.”
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Jullien’s faults have been exposed in both of our opening matches now. David Moyo and Ogboe both had good headed opportunities for Hamilton at Parkhead last weekend. Kabamba, meanwhile, also beat Jullien in the air far too often on Sunday.
And the more you think about it, the more there may very well be something in Stubbs’ comments. If you’re a manager reading Jullien’s Instagram post last season, you’re sending your strongest attacker on to get an error or two out of him.
Yet it’s not the case that Jullien can’t play against these players. He can. In the second half against Kilmarnock, there was a moment when he had clearly had enough and bullied Kabamba out of his road en route to winning the ball.
That’s the sort of Jullien Celtic fans want to see. The ball-playing, game-reading centre-back that exists within him can’t be allowed to be his only attributes. He’s a colossus of a man, and has already pocketed the likes of Sam Cosgrove, Jermaine Defoe, Alfredo Morelos, and Florian Kamberi since arriving in Glasgow respectively. He has it in him.
It’s time for a new Jullien to return on Wednesday night. An aggressive Jullien.
Jonathan Obika will be his direct rival, with St Mirren’s big striker containing plenty of power in his arsenal. A composed and dominant performance against him would be a nice start for Jullien on his road to recovery.
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