It was Piet de Visser, Roman Abramovich's chief football adviser and the man who recommended Guus Hiddink for Russia and Chelsea, who once famously said this of his compatriot: "He is not a coach who always demands the same system for his teams.

"He looks at the players, gets to know their best strengths and then decides the system."

That quote immediately sprung to mind after Ange Postecoglou's Celtic had slumped to their first defeat on the opening day of a Scottish football season for the first time since 1997.

It is fair to say the Aussie's reign has not got off to the best of starts. Three competitive matches played and not a solitary victory.

But it's the manner of Celtic's 2-1 shock loss to Hearts at Tynecastle that has left the supporters reeling.

Robbie Neilson's side have come up from the Championship. Being charitable, the men from Edinburgh are little more than organised, disciplined and well-drilled.

Sadly, against Celtic, that turned out to be enough.

When asked in the run-up to the fixture, Ange said of the Gorgie side: "I haven’t come from outer space. You’d be surprised about how much I know about Hearts.

“They’ve got a strong Aussie connection; Ryan McGowan, Paddy Kisnorbo, I can go back that far so I know Hearts very, very well."

It turns out Ange maybe didn't know as much about Hearts as he initially thought.

And he'd better get used to teams playing the way the West Edinburgh side did against them this season.

It is all very well Ange having principles and philosophies. Most managers want to play football in a way that will excite the supporters and get them off their seats.

In Glasgow, there is only one footballing philosophy the average paying punter understands and will usually accept - winning.

This is why Ange could maybe have learned from Hiddink's more pragmatic approach in these difficult early days when the tools at his disposal are so blunted.

"He looks at the players, gets to know their strengths and then decides the system."

Was this really the right time for Ange to try and implement a totally new system when it appears he does not have the personnel to carry his instructions out on the park?

Surely, this was the time to win games first and foremost.

It's simplistic, of course it is, but there is no underplaying the financial gravity of Champions League qualifiers.

It's now justifiable to ponder if Ange is a coach who has come in and tried to do too much, too soon.

Had he taken a leaf out of Hiddink's book, he could have gradually introduced his style and adapted the system over time.

READ MORE: Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou's post-match media comments analysed after Hearts defeat

The problem appears to be that Ange has tried to make wholesale changes straight off the bat.

Take inverted full-backs as an example of Ange's footballing philosophy and style.

With the best will in the world, Celtic are struggling to play this set-up largely because their options are limited and he has been forced to run with Anthony Ralston and Greg Taylor in those positions.

Vasilis Barkas and Scott Bain may be decent with the ball at their feet but they need to be able to save the odd shot or it's all for nothing.

David Turnbull who made such an impression last season has had a poor start to the campaign by his impeccably high standards.

Odsonne Edouard has been blunt in attack to the point of being a complete passenger, yet the Frenchman has started all three matches so far.

A good manager and tactician will improve players over time but that is a luxury that Ange could not afford.

Celtic needed to get off to a solid start this season but they now find themselves out of the Champions League and behind the 8-ball and already chasing league leaders and current champions Rangers after just one game.

Three competitive matches have come and gone and Celtic have not scented a whiff of victory in their nostrils.

And even more worryingly for Ange, his Celtic team look soft at the back and lacking penetration in forward areas.

READ MORE: The Celtic board must show Ange Postecoglou they believe as much as he does - Sean Martin

It took a freak moment of individual and uncharacteristic brilliance from Ralston to get Celtic back into the game against Hearts. That alone should tell you that any game plan is not working.

At no stage was there any confidence that Celtic would go on and win the game and for all their dominance in possession, it did not manifest itself in clear cut chances.

The same could be said of both Champions League qualifying legs against FC Midtjylland.

Yes, rebuilds take time but there are still several elements not clicking out there.

At times certain players look bewildered as to what function and role they are meant to be performing in the team. There is certainly a lack of cohesion about areas of the Celtic team so far this season.

The manager himself remarked after the Hearts game: "At some point the responsibility comes to the players, to take those opportunities that are provided for them.

“At the moment they are just not doing that."

Ange talks brilliantly and is refreshingly directly, but so far his charges have failed to walk the walk.

There is growing evidence on the pitch to suggest that the manager has failed to adopt a system that suits the players at his disposal.

When a manager picks his starting XI, you are doing so on the premise that they are deployed in the best way possible to win a football match.

Celtic Way:

People will point to the fact that a manager such as Brendan Rodgers did not abandon his football ideology with great success.

That may well be true but Rodgers is one of the game's top managers.

Whether Ange likes it or not, the Northern Irishman came with managerial clout, gravitas and a reputation that instantly had his players buying what he was selling.

Ange did not arrive at Celtic with the same aura.

There is a school of thought that he was given a free pass with regards to Europe this season because it is Celtic's modus operandi to enter into every Champions League campaign totally under-prepared no matter who is in charge.

Granted Ange was not armed with the right tools to face games of this magnitude but domestically it is a different story entirely.

Celtic fielded a team that was more than capable of beating Hearts.

If it is to be Ange's way or the highway in terms of football philosophy, then it also shows that he is not quite grasping or understanding the Scottish football world that he had entered.

It is not a fair world.

Whilst the Celtic supporters are a very patient bunch, those free passes do not usually extend to the domestic scene.

Whatever message Ange is relaying to the Celtic players right now - it clearly isn't working.

It also appears to be coming across as some form of double-Dutch that even the great Guus Hiddink would have had trouble deciphering.