Lennon’s marquee Summer signing (so far!) finally made his debut in the away tie in Tallin versus Nomme Kalju.
Jullien was assessed in Jullien: The Aerially Dominant Eagle Has Landed using information from WhoScored?.
But it is much preferable to have ”real life” data to get my hands upon!
Opposition Context
As discussed on Twitter, I’d place Kalju on a par with last season’s Dundee side – i.e. bottom SPFL. The overall game stats back that up.
As such it was a relatively gentle opener for Jullien to start with. Having said that, it was a bit of a patchwork side with five changes from the first leg.
Celtic were under relatively little pressure aside from one of those 5-minute collective wobbles just after half time where every clearance seemed to go straight to them and every cross connected. They had four efforts at goal between the 49th and 54th minutes. Celtic need to eradicate those sloppy phases as a better team will punish them as Astana did in the 3-4 defeat and AEK Athens last season.
None of this was directly Jullien’s fault, but it is a collective Celtic weakness away in Europe to have these daft phases of play.
Here he partnered Simunovic I think because both are suspended for the SPLF opener versus St Johnstone so need the game time.
Defending
Jullien’s game stats broadly support the assessment I initially provided.
He was second to Ralston in having 11 successful interceptions and challenges. Ralston won 12 but lost 8. Jullien only lost 2 giving him a single game Defensive Action Success Rate score of 83%. Anything over 80% is good. Simunovic led the way with 89%. As an aside, the lack of appreciation for Simunovic and his run of form since Lennon returned is one for another day.
He was joint second with 11 recoveries – that is, when a challenge takes place or the opposition misplace a pass, he recovered the ball for Celtic. His 4 clearances were a team high and 2 of them resulted in Celtic losing possession in their defensive third. He also won the ball back twice in his own defensive third.
Overall, he won back possession 5 times, not losing it due to defensive actions. Simunovic and Ralston both led the way here with 6-0.
Aerially he was utterly dominant. He won all 9 aerial challenges, of which 3 retained Celtic possession.
My only concern was that Klein looked to outpace him in the second half and a desperate lunge clearance prevented a run at goal. Klein is not quick. It is his first outing though.
Distribution
Jullien had a wider range of passing than Simunovic. Whilst the Croat completed 99% of his 68 passes, Jullien completed 91% of 66.
Simunovic actually completed more Pack Passes (passes that are forwards and take opponents out the game) with 5 to 4. But Jullien had the higher Pass Impect score meaning his 4 passes took out more opponents than Simunovic’s 5.
He also completed 3 Progressive Runs. Hardly Ajer-esque but on a par with Simunovic for brining the ball up the park.
Attacking
His one attacking effort of note was a header from a free kick over the bar. We can expect to see a lot more of this as in France he was dominant in both boxes.
Summary
The 9 out of 9 defensive aerial duels won is the headline and no surprise given the available pre signing data. He seemed a no-nonsense type defender who will clear if required. His range of passing will be worth monitoring also.
Things to see in future will be to organise and take charge in moments of collective brain freeze as happened here. And to see whether he has the pace Boyata had to recover.
Jullien looked pretty good to me but as you say it was against mediocre opposition. He had one very poor forward pass in the 2nd half giving the ball away but generally appeared assured and not the accident prone type as Boyata was at times. Next week against Cluj will see a sterner test. Ajer, Jullien and Jozo are a dominant back 3 that should win most duels I think. Here’s hoping!
Again great site and I enjoy your work.
I noticed that too Iain but I think Lenny is encouraging the defenders to play higher risk passes out of defence quickly if it is on?
Occasionally these passes are going to get cut out it’s how we deal with this that matters.
There’s defo a quicker ball reaching the front men now Lenny is in charge.
Having reviewed Jullien online footage he does seem to have a very good selection of long range passing especially to the wide players.
Something we have lacked since Mulgrew left.
Be interesting to see if he does this more as he settles and gets to know Forrest etc.
With our pace up top this could be devastating on the counter,
Boyata did do it on occasion to great effect under Brendan but I felt it was an avenue we could have used a bit more often.