Image source, Rex Features

While we are notoriously down to three English managers in the Premier League, the Championship is undergoing a similar shift, with Narcis Pelach (pictured arriving for tonight's game) the 10th foreign boss taking charge of a second-tier side this weekend.

He and tonight's opposite number Tim Walter are one of three each from Spain and Germany respectively, with 14 born in England.

Longest serving boss Mark Robins has been in charge of Coventry for more than seven years, but he's the only manager to have been in their post for at least two years - though Derby's Paul Warne will certainly hope to be able to celebrate that milestone on Sunday.

We want to hear from you - do you think continental coaches have what it takes to get out of what is regularly called the most demanding division in the world? Pelach has been an assistant at this level for several seasons but do you need to have played in the Championship to lead a side in it? And with Steven Schumacher axed after just nine months in the job, do clubs give up on new managers too quickly?

Let us know via the usual channels and join the conversation.

Image source, Rex Features

• Stoke have lost just one of their last seven league games against Hull City, winning five of those games and keeping five clean sheets in the process.

• The Tigers have won just one of their last 12 away league games against Stoke, taking seven points in total, though that lone victory did come last season with a 3-1 win a year ago this week (pictured).

• Stoke have lost three of their last four league games, as many defeats as they had in their previous 13 games in the Championship, during which they earned 24 points.

• Hull have lost two of their last three away league games, one more than in their previous nine such games, when they claimed 20 points.

• Hull are without a goal in their last three league games; it’s their longest run without one since a four-game spell in September 2022.

Image source, Rex Features

Former Hull City captain Curtis Davies says it will be "difficult" for the players to adapt to manager Tim Walter's style of play and questioned how effective it is.

"Against Sheffield United, they had a lot of the ball and conceded on the breakaway twice from being open," Davies told BBC Radio Humberside.

"But the biggest thing for me was the best chances the team had was from putting the ball in the box, so for all the passes, you put the ball in the box and nearly score.

"I think sometimes things can be overthought. I'm hoping to see slight tweaks in the way that City do things in order to be more effective in games, rather than coming out with 65% possession and no points."

On whether he's figured out Walter's style, Davies added: "No, not really if I'm being honest. I know it's a possession-based style. I know the way he wants to build and having worked with Liam [Rosenior], he wanted to play out from the back as well.

"But his was more structurally based in terms of centre-halves staying where they are and everything else moves around them.

"Whereas I see with the manager now, he is happy for his centre-halves to play passes and go beyond to try and get one-twos and you end up with players all over the pitch with that rotation.

"To now have someone else that's in a meticulous way doing something new, it's still that adaptation phase at the moment because it's very hard to switch from one style to another."

Image source, Getty Images

Former Stoke City defender Marc Muniesa knows new boss Narcis Pelach well.

The pair were both at their hometown club Girona together; Muniesa had joined the Spanish outfit from the Potters in 2017, while Pelach became part of the coaching set-up two years later.

Upon hearing his friend was set to head up his former club, Muniesa, now with Al Shahaniya in Qatar, had some words of advice.

"I told him you have to now try to connect with the team and then with the supporters," Muniesa told BBC Radio Stoke.

"When you play at Stoke, the other teams have to feel like they are going to war and the supporters can help you a lot.

"Of course, it can't just come with words. It has to come with results and he knows it."

The 32-year-old, who made 67 appearances for Stoke between 2013 and 2018, says that Pelach will want to build "a passionate team" and based on his own experiences, that seems to be exactly what the home fans will want to see.

"When you give everything on the pitch, the people love you. That is what Stoke showed to me during my four years there and they are still showing to me."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Hull City manager Tim Walter has defended his side's style of trying to play out from the back ahead of tonight's trip to the bet365 Stadium.

The Tigers have been caught in possession a number of times already this season, including for the first goal they conceded against Sheffield United last time out in the Championship.

"I'm happy with every player, you see they can play in our style and how they improve," Walter told BBC Radio Humberside.

"You can see the signature of the philosophy in every game we play."

On the defeat to the Blades, Walter said: "We had really brilliant situations but we didn't score.

"We made easy mistakes and that's the way it works in football. The team which makes the least mistakes wins the game.

"The way to the result is the performance. In the end it's the finishing pass or shot - that's the most important thing.

"I can understand everybody who is talking about us, but that's not my job. My job is to improve the team."

Image source, PA Media

New Stoke City boss Narcis Pelach has wasted no time in telling his players how he intends to manage the club.

The 36-year-old Catalan, who left his role as a coach at Norwich City to join the Potters, said things “will be different because the methodology is different”.

“The way to train and intensity is something that will be there every day,” he told BBC Radio Stoke.

“So maybe in an environment that you are being challenged a lot, sometimes it’s not comfortable - things will be said that sometimes they will not like but it’s something that, to be honest, I don’t care.

“They have to be professional, they have to take things. And if you want to get better in life, you have to go through the difficult stuff. I understand the game like this. If you want to get better, if you want to win, you need to listen to the bad things.

“You need to criticise yourself, you need to put your standards very high. I want to take this opportunity and bring this club to a bigger level, a better level.

"I will be fair, I will be demanding, but it will never be personal. We want to get better, we want to perform. I think they know they are in an elite environment and this is how you need to live your life.”

It's still only September but fans, owners and players will likely be frustrated by the start which both of these sides have made to the campaign.

The Potters have taken six points from their five Championship matches, but have scored only three goals and lost three of those games, including 1-0 at Oxford United last Saturday.

While Hull boss Tim Walter may have already outlasted Steven Schumacher, the Tigers drew their opening three matches but have lost the last two without scoring to sit in the bottom three, leading to plenty of scrutiny of his possession-based system, and even in some quarters his position, just two months after arriving at the MKM Stadium following Liam Rosenior's sacking for failing to make the play-offs.

Image source, Opta

Image source, Rex Features

The football week kicked off on Monday night with the NFL/Hollywood derby in the Second City on and since then has featured a host of action from the EFL Cup, EFL Trophy and of course that there Champions League too.

But we're back to the bread-and-butter tonight and for the next four days too.

Click here to read about all the things to look out for on a packed weekend of EFL action.

Image source, Rex Features

Perhaps fittingly in a week when the UEFA Champions League appeared on BBC TV for the first time, there is a also continental feel to the start of your EFL weekend.

Stoke and Hull have never dined at European football's top table, although they did have Europa League adventures over a decade ago after losing in FA Cup finals.

However both clubs have recently handed the reins to forward-thinking European coaches born and raised the best part of 1,000 miles from the Potteries and Humberside.

Tonight will be Catalonian Narcis Pelach's first game in charge of Stoke after replacing Steven Schumacher at the helm on Wednesday, while in the opposite dugout will be Tim Walter, who hails from the south west corner of Germany.

The bottom half of the Championship feels a million miles from European football but the owners of both clubs will be hoping their journey back to the top starts tonight.