3 things Stoke City will have clearly learnt following Friday night's 3-1 loss v Hull | OneFootball

The Potters fell to defeat in Narcis Pelach's first game in charge

Narcis Pelach got off to a tough start as Stoke City head coach with a 3-1 loss to Hull City at the bet365 Stadium in his first game in charge on Friday night.

Pelach was hired by Stoke on Wednesday after Steven Schumacher's shock sacking on Monday, as he left his role as first-team coach at Norwich City with Stoke rolling the dice on a sixth boss in as many years to finally change their fortunes in the second-tier.

The Spaniard has had little time to implement his style of play and training methods with his new players so far, and will have learned a lot from Friday's disparaging defeat to the Tigers, who headed into the game in 22nd place in the Championship and without a win in 2024/25 under new boss Tim Walter.

Stoke took the lead on the half-hour mark through Ben Wilmot's near post header from a corner, but started the second period on the back foot and soon conceded a penalty, which Kasey Palmer saw saved by Viktor Johansson, but he was able to follow up on the rebound and nod into an empty net.

Walter's side took the lead for the first time this season with 77 minutes on the clock as Regan Slater fired home, and then added some gloss on their victory as Palmer's cross was deflected by Ben Wilmot into his own goal for 3-1.

There are some improvements needed in Pelach's next few games, and FLW have picked out three things that Stoke will have clearly learnt from the loss.

Stoke City's second half performances must improve ASAP

This game ended with the Potters' fourth league defeat of the campaign so far, and three of those have been lost as a result of a clear drop-off in performances and fitness levels throughout the team in the second 45 minutes.

Stoke travelled to Watford for their first league away game of the season last month, and were pretty comfortable at 0-0 at half-time before an almost instant second-half capitulation saw Schumacher's side 2-0 down on 49 minutes, with the game then as good as over.

A similar outcome against Oxford last week was what seemingly lost the former boss his job at the bet365 Stadium, as Stoke went in level at the break at the Kassam Stadium, with more shots, more xG and more touches in the opposition box, but then came out for the second period and were a completely different side as the U's took the lead through Idris El Mizouni just three minutes after the restart.

Stoke led at half-time for the first time in the league this season against the Tigers, so signs of progress were there, but they undid their hard work once again in the second half as players looked visibly lethargic and made individual errors to cost their side the game.

Not only did Stoke concede three goals in the second period, they also created just 0.28 xG compared to Hull's 1.49, created less big chances, and had fewer accurate passes, interceptions and blocks than their opponents, according to Fotmob.

Potters fans will hope that Pelach's reign brings an end to those second half drop-offs, as he certainly has his work cut out if the Hull outing is anything to go by.

Ben Gibson and Ben Wilmot are not the best centre-back pairing for Stoke City

A lot was expected of Ben Gibson when he arrived at Stoke in the summer after being made a free agent following his release from Norwich, but he has struggled so far despite being given the captaincy by Schumacher instead of Josh Laurent.

Ben Wilmot, meanwhile, has been a near mainstay in the Potters' defence at the start of the campaign, and has also not shown his best form so far when played alongside the 31-year-old at the back.

The pair started Stoke's opening day 1-0 win against Coventry and looked relatively assured together, but then were part of a backline that conceded five goals in two games against Watford and West Brom, and were both rested for the Potters' 5-0 thrashing of Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup as Spurs loanee Ashley Phillips and youngster Jaden Dixon impressed alongside each other.

Wilmot came back into the team next to Phillips for the trip to Plymouth, and another clean sheet was kept with that duo looking the strongest together so far, but the Spurs man was then dropped in favour of Gibson for the game against Oxford, where Stoke struggled at the back and tasted defeat once again.

Michael Rose returned from injury to play alongside Phillips in midweek, and both looked comfortable, albeit against lower league opposition, until the latter suffered an injury of his own and was taken off due to concussion protocols.

That meant that Wilmot and Gibson paired each other in the league once again for the visit of Hull, and the full-time result only begins to scratch the surface at how much they struggled to implement Pelach's play out from the back style, which is heavily reliant on centre-backs to be comfortable in and out of possession.

According to Sofascore, Gibson won just one of his four ground duels, lost possession 14 times, and only three of his 14 long balls found a man in red and white, while Wilmot was unfortunate to be credited with the own goal, but also lost possession nine times, and just one of his seven long balls reached a Stoke player.

Pelach will have taken a lot from the game, and one thing must be that Wilmot and Gibson must not play together going forward if the same style is set to be played every week.

Stoke were successful in their summer-long pursuit of Leicester City striker Tom Cannon late on in the transfer window, and it is fair to say that his time at the Potters has got off to a rocky start so far.

The 21-year-old arrived at the club to join an attack that does not boast any prolific Championship strikers, and while he is still at an early stage in his career, he was certainly loaned in to be Stoke's starting striker in every game that he is fit for this season.

He experienced promotion from the second-tier with the Foxes, but his best Championship spell so far came out on loan at Preston North End in 2022/23, where he quickly became a talisman for Ryan Lowe in his short stint at Deepdale and impressed at just 20-years-old.

Cannon was signed by Stoke this summer in the knowledge that fellow Liverpudlian Schumacher was set to be in charge for the foreseeable future, but he was surprisingly sacked last week and replaced by Pelach, during which time the Leicester loanee missed a golden one-on-one chance to open his account for Stoke in the EFL Cup against Fleetwood Town, and then subsequently had his penalty saved in the shootout after it had ended level.

His performance didn't improve much against Hull either, as he struggled to get involved in the build up alongside Million Manhoef and Lewis Koumas in the front three, and registered just one off-target shot in his 92 minutes on the pitch.

According to FotMob, he lost the most duels in the match (12), had just two touches in Hull's box, and did not complete a dribble all game, so it is clear to see that something is not quite right with him at the minute, whether that be struggling to adapt to life at a new team, or just not being given sufficient service to get involved in the game.

Pelach must find the right way to set up to get Cannon firing this season, or Stoke will face a tough time in front of goal with a lack of decent options up front.