Celtic boss eases fears on Chris Jullien – should he play vs St Mirren?

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The Christopher Jullien decision taken by Neil Lennon on Sunday when he came off at half-time was an eyebrow-raising one.

The Frenchman produced a stunning display against Sam Cosgrove in the first half at Pittodrie in our 4-0 success. He didn’t give the Dons man a sniff. Added to that, he played several tremendous diagonals and long through balls.

Jullien was one of the key reasons we were so comfortable at half-time against Aberdeen. Yet, despite that, he still came off at the break for Nir Bitton.

It initially seemed as though Jullien was simply taken off due to needing a rest. However, speaking to the BBC (24 minutes), Lenny confirmed that his towering defender has instead been suffering from a virus.

“He’s got a virus. It’s been going around – I had it myself for a couple of weeks. We’re hoping he’ll be alright in a couple of days. We’ve got St Mirren on Wednesday – we’ll see how he is.”

No need to risk Jullien on Wednesday – plenty of big games ahead

St Mirren at home on Wednesday can’t be taken lightly. We all know that, and we’ve seen enough banana-skin matches in the past to know that three points can never be taken for granted in the Scottish Premiership.

However, that doesn’t mean that Jullien needs to be risked on Wednesday. Not when we have Nir Bitton back and still needing some game-time to increase his match-sharpness.

St Mirren’s strike-force of Danny Mullen and Jonathan Obika is likely to be halved when they come to Glasgow. Jim Goodwin is unlikely to play two up front and seriously come out to attack the Hoops. Therefore, against either of the pair, Bitton will be just fine alongside Kristoffer Ajer.

Meanwhile, we also have a colossal contest against Hibernian at Hampden on Saturday night. The Betfred Cup semi-final is a huge match in our season. Whilst we all acknowledge that we’ll one day lose a cup match, we don’t want it to be this weekend. Jullien should be kept wrapped up in cotton wool for that one.

Against the Hibees, Jullien is likely to be up against Florian Kamberi or Christian Doidge. Alone, they wouldn’t pose much threat. But the centre-backs have to be alert to the service from Scott Allan, Daryl Horgan, and Stevie Mallan respectively.

So is there a real need to play him on Wednesday? For the task that the Celtic centre-backs will have, this is well within Bitton’s capabilities. Whether Lenny agrees or not? We’ll most certainly find out.