Bruce makes ‘obvious difference’ to Magpies
Ben Dawson claimed the impact of Steve Bruce was immediate as Newcastle United won their first friendly since appointing their new manager.
Yoshinori Muto scored the only goal as the Magpies beat West Ham 1-0 in the third-place play-off of the Premier League Asia Trophy in Shanghai.
Bruce linked up with the squad only on Thursday, but Dawson, who will now revert to his role as academy head after taking temporary charge of firstteam matters, claimed there had been a big change.
Dawson said: “I think it was obvious the difference having a manager in place.
“He’s obviously given the players some focus and direction.
“He’s been able to express his expectations and the standards he wants out on the pitch to both the staff and the players.
“They’ve obviously been able to work on that the last couple of days and put in the performance they did tonight.”
It has been a troubled summer at St James’ Park after the departure of Rafael Benitez as manager, the loss of key players Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon, and with the continuing takeover rumours.
Bruce spoke about the need to sign new players, particularly strikers, when he addressed media on Friday, but goalkeeper Martin Dubravka insists the current players also need to step up.
He said: “It has only been three days but he has been trying to describe what is his way, his style of play.
“Three days is not enough to know each other, but we are professionals and we have to take on the responsibilities.
“We have to take risks in games and create chances.
“We did today. They were very well organised, but that was the key.”
Japanese forward Muto took his chance to shine as he turned home Jamie Sterry’s cross after 34 minutes.
It condemned West Ham to a second defeat of the week after losing 4-1 to Manchester City in Nanjing on Wednesday.
Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini feels the trip to China has been worthwhile, however. He said: “We had 10 days in Switzerland where we worked in a physical way, and this week in China we have played two games to see what our level is.
“We also gave minutes to the whole squad.
“We are working well and now we need to use the next three weeks to make sure we are a mentally and physically competitive team.”