Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou's future at Parkhead is looking increasingly bleak following the Bhoys' heavy defeat in the Europa League on Thursday.

What's the talk?

That's according to a claim made by Kieran Devlin, with The Athletic journalist stating in a recent article that, following the 4-0 drubbing by Bayer Leverkusen, coupled with disappointing results in the Premiership, the 56-year-old is already coming under increasing pressure at the club.

In his piece, Devlin wrote: "Postecoglou might not get 50 games under his belt as Celtic boss - the pressure is mounting already."

Nicholson heading for disaster

It is undeniable that results have not been good enough under the leadership of Postecoglou so far this season, with the Bhoys currently sitting mid-table in the Premiership and rooted to the bottom of their Europa League group. However, should Michael Nicholson be considering the sacking of the manager, the decision to do so would undoubtedly be a disaster on the part of the Celtic CEO.

Indeed, having only appointed the 56-year-old a matter of months ago, the Hoops squad are quite clearly some way off being a team in the manager's mould, with it naturally taking time for a team to adjust to life under the new philosophies and tactics imposed by a fresh face in the dugout.

Furthermore, the Bhoys have actually looked rather impressive in spells so far this season, with the first 25 minutes of the Leverkusen game - in which Kyogo Furuhashi missed two big chances to give Celtic the lead - demonstrating that the team are capable of performing very well against a hugely talented opponent. It should not be forgotten that Leverkusen are currently second in the Bundesliga.

While it may be frustrating that these periods of brilliance are only seen in flashes at present, there is a reason why the club appointed Postecoglou in the first place, as they believe that the former Australia manager can build a team at Parkhead which is competitive in Europe in the long-term, rather than just being makeweight participants.

As such, sacking the manager who Paul Lambert claimed looked "distraught" after Thursday night's loss would only bring Celtic back to square one of their rebuilding project, something which would almost certainly set the club back even further.

In other news: Forget Starfelt: £20k-p/w Celtic man who made zero tackles badly failed his manager against Leverkusen