CHRISTOPHER Jullien has made one brief cameo appearance since his horrible injury at the tail end of 2020.
Many fans expected to see him eased into this campaign as Celtic fought for the league, both domestic cups and European success - but that wasn’t to be.
He has perhaps failed to garner the match fitness required to convince Ange Postecoglou to put him in, or it could be that the centre-backs in front of him have completely displaced him from the squad.
Most likely is actually a combination of the two, with him unable to convince the manager that it’s worth risking him over the settled pairing of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt.
Jullien is a fan favourite and has created some great memories over the past few seasons. From his cup-sealing goal against Rangers to the winner against Lazio, he has generally been fantastic for the club when available.
However, now aged 29 and with little football in the last 15 months as well as only 12 months left on his contract, Celtic will surely be pondering what to do with their most expensive defensive signing ever.
Can he make a comeback or is it time for Celtic to move him on? Here, we look at the data to determine what Jullien could still provide and what the team have lost without him fit and in the side...
Heatmaps
Jullien's heatmap from his last full season is pictured below alongside those of Carter-Vickers and Starfelt for comparison.
The big difference is where the players are active. Jullien primarily stayed in his own half under Neil Lennon but we can see how different his role would need to be playing for Postecoglou with both Starfelt and Carter-Vickers having heavy activity on the ball in the opposition half.
Jullien would need to get on the ball higher up and, if caught in transition, recover a farther distance than he has been used to at Celtic. This might be an issue as his physique - a rangy 6ft 5in - costs him some mobility in terms of recovery runs.
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Where Jullien is strong is with the presence he brings in the boxes both defensively and offensively. His height and physical stature allowed Celtic to dominate teams aerially. If he could be used in Postecoglou’s system, he may offer more protection from set-pieces and provide more of a threat from their own.
As both Carter-Vickers and Jullien generally play on the right side of central defence, it is worth comparing them further.
StatsBomb comparison: Centre-back template
Using StatsBomb's centre-back template, we get a good indication of how Celtic’s system has changed from the last time Jullien was a regular in the starting XI.
This is most conspicuous in increased interceptions from Carter-Vickers - as Celtic defend more aggressively - and from Jullien playing more long balls under Lennon.
Interestingly Carter-Vickers, despite being around five inches shorter, beats Jullien in both the number of aerial duels he competes for per 90 minutes and the success rate of them whereas Jullien pressures defenders more than Carter-Vickers. It would have been a reasonable expectation for these metrics to be flipped based on physical profile and change in systems.
Both Carter-Vickers and Jullien are very good defenders that rarely get bypassed, something reflected by their high percentile rankings in tackled/dribbled past percentage. On the ball, for just passing accuracy Carter-Vickers is stronger but the system he plays in is much better so it’s hard to know how Jullien would fair.
StatsBomb comparison: OBV template
In terms of providing on-ball value, Carter-Vickers is comfortably ahead of Jullien in most metrics. This could be because he is playing under a coherent system with Postecoglou, which Jullien arguably didn’t have.
The standout metric for Carter-Vickers is his defensive action OBV, which is in the 98th percentile. He is such a hard defender to play against, especially one-v-one due to his strength and mobility.
Jullien provided a bit more in terms of driving out from the back on the ball which we have seen from both Carter-Vickers and Starfelt more of late as Postecoglou counters opposition's low blocks. This could be a useful attribute if Jullien is to get back into the side.
Conclusion
Jullien was a very good player for Celtic and that has been reinforced with the eye test and with the data.
When he played in a poorer system under Lennon, he was still solid and was a key member of a successful squad.
The big question is: is he still good enough? The only people who will be able to answer that is the manager and his staff as there is no data or eye test to infer either way from training and a 17-minute cameo against Raith Rovers.
Come summer, given his contract situation, we will find out if Postecoglou chooses to use Jullien going forward or move him on.
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