Mark Wilson reckons Ange Postecoglou will now realise he has a bigger task on his hands at Celtic than he ever imagined.

The Hoops’ Champions League exit against Midtjylland was followed quickly by Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle in their Premiership curtain-raiser.

It was the club’s first opening-day league loss in 24 years and yet further proof of the rebuilding job Postecoglou faces following last season’s capitulation to rivals Rangers in the pursuit of a historic 10 in a row.

The Greek-Australian has confessed he needs time - and signings - to sort out the team’s troubles, and Wilson believes it is a more extensive job than the new manager would have expected.

The former Celtic full-back said: “It’s been a tough few weeks for Ange Postecoglou coming to Celtic and I’m pretty sure he would have known it was going to be a large task he had in front of him.

“But when the Champions League game came so quickly and signings came in pretty slowly, and then a trip to Tynecastle followed, I think he must be thinking, ‘this is a lot larger task than I ever imagined’.

“When you look at the Celtic squad there is still plenty of quality there and plenty of international players there, albeit some want to move on.

“But they’re still good enough to have started much better than they have in this campaign.

“Even their pre-season results were a little bit alarming and they’ve taken that form into the Champions League.

“Of course, that was a big blow - and it looked like they had a hangover going to Tynecastle on Saturday.”

Wilson added to Sky Sports: “The problem is the players aren’t performing on the pitch for Ange Postecoglou, and he needs to change that quickly.”