Christopher Jullien left Celtic for Montpellier during the summer transfer window after the big Frenchman struggled to get back into the team following a freak injury which left him sidelined for 18 months.
Jullien was previously outspoken against manager Ange Postecoglou for selecting other players ahead of him in an outburst that was hard to justify at the time, considering the team were going very strong and top of the league while on a long unbeaten domestic run.
He also left Ange out of his farewell message but included Neil Lennon who brought him to the club but had obviously left more than a year previously.
But it seems Jullien has a fresh perspective on his time under Postecoglou and despite admitting to a complicated relationship with the manager, he does admit that he learned some positive things under the big Aussie:
“My first season was amazing! We managed to win the three national trophies.” stated Julien to the Ligue 1 website.
“But the second was not as prolific since we only won one trophy. So yes, the list has grown. I don’t regret at any time having signed there. I had an incredible experience!”
“When you don’t play for a year, you learn a lot about yourself, your surroundings and your family. After such an injury, you can only become stronger mentally.”
“But the thing that struck me the most is that when you’re abroad and you’re not playing, your name comes out of the radar very quickly. Many people asked me what I was up to and whether I played or not.”
“It a very long absence from a match, because I really came back from my injury in November 2021. The problem I encountered on my return was that the team was doing very well and the coach didn’t need to integrate me into the eleven.”
“Even though I didn’t play last season and it was complicated on a human level with coach Ange Postecoglou, I learned a lot. He is a coach who relies a lot on video and who tries to get into the opponent’s head.”
“Thanks to this, I realised that when you push the opposing team to do exactly what they don’t want, you can outwit them to an unimaginable extent. It’s like playing chess. If the opposing team can’t find a parry, you’re in for a treat.”
“That’s why I think I’ve become more tactically savvy. But I always try to improve on this aspect.”
It is clear that on reflection, Jullien realises that he did respect Ange and leared some positive things under him.
I thought it was very interesting to hear that Ange uses a lot of video analysis to get him coaching points across, and for Jullien to specifically point that out, it must not be a common thing, at least in his own personal experience, that managers rely a lot on, but his methods clearly work and bring success.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out long term for Jullien at Celtic, but he did help us win a treble and scored the winner in the league cup final and was brilliant for us in Europe to beat Lazio home and away, so he can be proud of his time at Celtic.
I wish him all the best at Montpellier and in the rest of his career.
