Why Celtic star has been left out of matchday squads revealed

Christopher Jullien did not make a single appearance for Celtic in 2021 after picking up a long-term injury late in 2020. And it is safe to say that the Hoops have missed him as defence as been an area of weakness for them without the Frenchman. It must be said though that Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers have formed a formidable partnership at the back this season while Stephen Welsh has also played his role very well.

As a result, even though Jullien is now back fit, he has not been able to get minutes on the pitch till now. And in the previous two games, against the Rangers and Motherwell, the French defender has been left out of the matchday squads.

This had led to worries that Jullien might have potentially suffered another injury setback but that does not appear to be the case. Instead, leaving Jullien out of the squad seems to have been a purely tactical move on the part of Ange Postecoglou.

As reported by The Scotsman, the Celtic manager said about Jullien’s situation:

"“Obviously when you are looking at the bench there is no point having too many players from one position in there.“So from our perspective, the bench is there to, hopefully, help us during the game, and for the most part we have attacking players on there. But Chris is training well, he’s fit and available and will get an opportunity. But when that opportunity comes, we’ll see. It’s got to be right and he’ll get an opportunity soon.”"

Why Jullien has been left out of Celtic’s recent matchday squads revealed

It is safe to say that at this point of time, Jullien will find it difficult to break into the Celtic first-team ahead of Starfelt and Carter-Vickers. And at the moment, he might even be behind Welsh in the pecking order.

The most important thing for him right now will be to get some minutes here and there, and find some rhythm. He has been out of action for well over a year and will need some time before he starts performing at anywhere near his best.

Celtic have a Scottish Cup fifth round game against Raith Rovers coming up this weekend and that might be a great opportunity to give Jullien some minutes off the bench.