Celtic fans are finding out more about central-defender Christopher Jullien with every passing game.
The 6ft 5in Frenchman, who signed for £7million earlier this summer, has become a bit of an ever-present in recent weeks. Jullien has played the majority of the club’s last eight matches – missing just seven minutes of football after being substituted on Sunday.
The defender is improving with every game too, but something has already become abundantly clear about him.
Jullien relishes going up against strong attacks
The former Toulouse man looks like he will be at his best in games when he is asked to regularly defend. That may sound a little bit daft, so allow me to explain.
The 26-year-old absolutely loves to defend. He thrives on crosses into the box and being able to snuff out attacking opportunities. It’s no surprise then that his two best performances in a Celtic shirt have been in our two toughest matches.
Jullien was immense at Ibrox when he was asked to defend his box amid threat from the hosts. He was just as good in Rennes on Thursday as Neil Lennon set up his team in a similar manner – to defend solidly first and foremost and then threaten mainly on the counter.
Jullien has been pretty solid on the whole in recent weeks but he does look a little more suspect against counter attacking teams. The Frenchman’s weak point is clearly his pace on the turn, and that was exploited a little on a couple of occasions by Kilmarnock at the weekend.
But on the whole it’s been a terrific start for the summer recruit. We finally have a defender who likes to defend first and foremost – and that hasn’t always been the case in recent years.
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