DYKES DID JULLIEN A FAVOUR WITH SPFL CRASH COURSE
Lennon hails response of defender to horror show at Toni Macaroni Arena Rice: EPL stint should spur Hamilton on
YOU may think that an imminent return to Livingston would send a shiver up the spine of Celtic defender Christopher Jullien, given the harsh lesson he received in the realities of the Scottish Premiership from Lyndon Dykes the last time he was there. But that blustery afternoon back in October was when Neil Lennon knew his £7million signing had the backbone for the challenges ahead.
The Frenchman often references that shock 2-0 defeat as a moment of awakening for him, and how he responded to it has been hugely pleasing for the manager who pushed the boat out to bring him in from Toulouse last summer.
Lennon believes that Jullien will be a different prospect tomorrow night than the defender who admitted to being too nervous the last time he played at the Toni Macaroni Arena, with the 26-year-old more than making amends since.
“He bounced back really well from that day,” Lennon said. “It was something he wasn’t used to. He’d obviously came from a different football culture, but he learned from it and he’s embraced it now. He’s been absolutely superb for us this season domestically and in Europe.
“That was a big lesson for him but it’s one he learned quickly. There is a maturity about him and he has leadership qualities. He has integrated really well, and the boys like him.
“In some of the big games he’s put in some heroic performances. In Copenhagen he was outstanding, Lazio he had a great game, and there’s been super performances domestically.
“His goal tally is right up there as well with seven or eight for the season already.”
It wasn’t only Jullien’s response to that defeat which pleased Lennon, but the reaction of his squad as a whole. After that loss, his side clocked up 11 straight wins across all competitions, including the gaining of a measure of revenge over Livingston with a 4-0 win at Celtic Park.
But is retribution on the mind of Lennon and his Celtic players again as they return to the scene of that crime back in the autumn?
“Not really,” he said. “We just take it game by game and this is the next one.
“We’ll try to pick the right personnel for it and play accordingly to the conditions, the pitch and the opposition.
“We’re going to have to roll up sleeves up, it’s going to be a battle. Their home form is terrific, it’s a really difficult venue.
“They are a team that I admire, there’s no superstars in the team but they work really hard and they’ve got great energy. Physically, they are a really tough team.
“We haven’t even scored there in our last two games so we are going to have to rectify that somehow. But it will be tough.”
Lennon says that the attention given to Livingston’s plastic pitch does them a disservice, with their impressive home record of just two defeats in their last 13 matches more down to the application of the players than the playing surface.
“They’ve had a few decent results away from home as well,” he said.
“You only have to look at their league position to see that they’ve held their own at home and away.
“They beat us 2-0, and alright, we were down to 10 men, but they made life so difficult for us.
“It’s going to be exactly the same on Wednesday night.”
Another Celtic player who will be looking to respond well to adversity in the coming weeks will be Jullien’s fellow centre-back Jozo Simunovic, after turning in a horror performance in last week’s desperately disappointing Europa League defeat to Copenhagen. He may be forced to sit out the Livingston fixture though to protect his troublesome knee.
Kristoffer Ajer is also a doubt having aggravated a thigh problem in Sunday’s win over St Johnstone.
“Will Jozo bounce back? Absolutely,” said Lennon. “We got it back to 1-1 so that didn’t cost us the game. It was the game management in the two minutes after we score that cost us. “We were all culpable for that.
I didn’t need to have a chat with him. His knee is not responding quite as we’d like so he’s a major doubt for Wednesday.
“The surface would probably work against him. We’ll just have to wait and see how Kris is and take it from there.”
Lennon was speaking alongside Scotland rugby legend Doddie Weir, as the pair threw their weight behind ‘The Lion’s Roar’ charity match, a fundraising evening taking place on Friday, May 8 for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which supports research into tackling Motor Neuron Disease.
When speaking to the inspirational Weir, who has battled MND for the past three years, suddenly the minutiae of thigh strains and dodgy knees seem rather inconsequential.
“From our point of view, it’s magnificent to be involved with an amazing club which does so much for charity and I hope that everyone will enjoy a good night out on May 8,” Weir said.
“When you’re dropped by a team, what do you do? Hand your jersey back? Or fight hard to get it sorted? Given my background, I do enjoy a little scrap now and again and this is a big fight we’ve taken on.”
HAMILTON head coach Brian Rice hopes Jamie Hamilton will be inspired after his Brighton training stint.
The defender spent three days last week with the Premier League club - whose assistant manager is former Accies boss Billy Reid - before turning 18 on Sunday.
Rice hopes the experience will prove a lift to the defender.
Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen have also been credited with serious interest in the centre-back.
“It was a great experience for the kid,” Rice said. “I believe he did pretty well so we will see what comes of that.
“He went down there and the facilities at Brighton are out of this world. I have close connections with a few people at Brighton so I know what sort of club it is and he was well looked after.
“He trained with the first team so it was a brilliant experience for Jamie and it just gives him an insight into what could happen in the future.
“That’s got to be his goal.”