Frank McAvennie has suggested that Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou should look to rest Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt. 

The lowdown

The Hoops looked in good shape defensively straight after the winter break, conceding just two goals in six matches between 17 January and 6 February. However, in their subsequent five games, they have shipped nine goals, and their only clean sheet has come against Championship side Raith Rovers.

Last weekend, the Premiership's bottom club Dundee breached them twice, with Giorgos Giakoumakis rescuing the Bhoys by scoring a hat-trick, including an 86th-minute winner.

Starfelt is on a run of eight straight Premiership starts, while Carter-Vickers hasn't missed a league game since the clash with Hearts at the start of December.

The latest

Speaking to Football Insider, McAvennie said that Celtic's recent defensive trends were a 'worry' and called for Postecoglou to freshen things up in the heart of the backline.

He stated: "For me, in the last few games, the defence has looked jaded. That can happen.

"When that happens, great teams still manage to grind out a result. We saw that at the weekend when it took a Giakoumakis hattrick to win the game because the defence weren't at it.

"That's a worry for me. I would rather win 1-0 than 3-2 all day.

"The two centre-backs have barely changed all season so maybe they need a bit of a rest."

The verdict

Perhaps the time is right to turn to Christopher Jullien.

The Frenchman played the last 16 minutes against Raith Rovers earlier this month, making his long-awaited comeback from injury, but Postecoglou left him on the bench for both legs of the Europa Conference League play-off tie against Bodo/Glimt and also against Dundee.

Although there's a need for patience with a player who has been sidelined through injury for more than a year, surely the best way for Jullien to get back to his former level is to get back into match action. Now may be the time to get him going in that regard.

In other news, Celtic clearly liked what they saw from this Bodo/Glimt player