Neil Lennon expressed his disappointment at his side dropping points against Kilmarnock on Sunday but refused to point the finger of blame at Christopher Jullien, the Frenchman responsible for giving away a first-half penalty, as reported by BBC Sport.
Celtic had taken an early lead through a stroke of genius from Ryan Christie but the Hoops rearguard never looked comfortable throughout the 90 minutes with Killie’s Nicke Kabamba giving Jullien, in particular, a torrid time.
When asked if he was concerned about the £7million signing‘s form, he said:
“Chris is always a slow burner to get going.
“He was the same this time last year. There’s a bit of rust there, but he will get better as the season goes on.
“He is disappointed but that is not the reason we dropped two points. We weren’t good enough in the final third with all the play we had.
“I’m frustrated. We got off to a good start and gave away a poor goal. We dominated the second half and didn’t find the answer.”
The problem that Lennon faces is that he has very little alternative to the Jullien and Kristoffer Ajer partnership having allowed Jozo Simunovic to depart earlier in the summer, however, he may revert back to the 3-5-2 formation that saw his side pull away after the winter break with either Nir Bitton or Hatem Abd Elhamed capable of filling in.
Does Lennon need to sign another centre-half?
Yes
No
Jullien was part of the best defence in the league last season and hasn’t become a poor defender overnight, however, as Kabamba showed, he can be rattled by physical strikers, Lyndon Dykes got the better of him on more than one occasion last season which was well documented at the time.
The transfer window still has a long way to run and few would expect it to close without Lennon bringing in extra cover for his defence, it would be equally as surprising if Jullien played as badly again after a performance he will want to forget about in a hurry.