It’s Stoke City, but not as we know it.

Rarely has a club been so associated with one style of playing than the Potters over the five seasons they have been in the Premier League.

Long throws, rugby jokes, winding up Arsene Wenger, Stoke fans relished them all as their team defied the odds to reach an FA Cup final, Europe and stay largely out of trouble in the league.

But last season discontent grew as a terrible run saw them become briefly drawn into the battle to avoid relegation.

They survived comfortably in the end but, without the appeasement of results, the lack of entertainment on show became a rod with which to beat manager Tony Pulis.

And at the end of the season chairman Peter Coates brought Pulis’ seven-year reign at the Britannia Stadium to an end, replacing him with another Welshman in Mark Hughes.

The former Manchester City and QPR boss has brought in only two new players – defenders Erik Pieters and Marc Muniesa – but it is set to be a very different Stoke that take to the field for their Premier League opener against Liverpool next weekend.

Hughes immediately set about transforming Stoke’s style of play, encouraging his players to keep the ball on the ground and pass out from defence.

The changes have been evident in pre-season and, speaking after last weekend’s victory over Wrexham, Hughes declared himself encouraged by the progress that has been made.

He said: “There’s a number of things we can improve on, I think that’s obvious. But you can see the guys are trying to implement what we’re giving to them.

“It’s not easy but I’ve been pleased with the application and how they’ve gone about it in terms of trying to make things happen.

“I’ve got good players and I wouldn’t ask them to do anything I don’t feel they’re capable of doing. The back four are all internationals so playing out from the back shouldn’t cause any problems whatsoever.

“I just think once we get really adept at it, which I feel we’ve got enough ability to do, then we’ll get further up the field and we’ll get more bodies around the opposition box.

“That’s what I feel the way forward is. I think we’ll retain possession better in the opposition half and we’ll create things.

“It will take time and on occasions we’ll make mistakes, I think we have to accept that, but if we want to play in a certain way then that’s what we have to do.

“The only way we’ll improve is by playing games and understanding what you can and can’t do in certain areas of the field. In the long term we’ll be a better team I hope.”

Hughes is also encouraged by the attitude of the fans, saying: “Every time we had a good passage of play you sensed the crowd was really encouraged by that and that’s the way they want us to play.”

But, as unpopular as Pulis’ methods were at times, they were also very successful, and Hughes knows only too well how damaging a bad start can be after his unhappy spell at QPR.

Changing the footballing philosophy of a club in a couple of months is certainly risky, and how patient the supporters will be if things do not go to plan remains to be seen.

Encouragingly for Hughes, the Stoke players appear to have really bought into his plans and, having scored only 34 goals in 38 games last season, extra creativity is desperately needed.

Pulis tended to stick with a settled side, leading to resentment among some players who felt they were not being given a fair chance.

So far Hughes has been very inclusive, offering Jermaine Pennant a second chance and bringing in Wilson Palacios from the cold.

Striker Jonathan Walters gave Hughes the thumbs up, saying: “The manager’s all about keeping the ball and playing out from the back. A lot of lads have warmed to it, we’re getting it down and passing it and I think everyone enjoys that.

“But we’ve got to get the results come the start of the season, that’s the most important thing. It does help when you enjoy training, though.

“It’s still a work in progress and we’ve got a lot of hard work to do. There were people last year frozen out, everyone’s on a clean slate now.”

Walters, Stoke’s leading scorer last season, has particularly enjoyed working with former Manchester United and Barcelona striker Hughes.

“We’ve been doing a lot of finishing,” said Walters. “He’s joined in a couple of times and he was pretty good. I watched him as a young lad so I’m enjoying it.”