Ben Dawson said:

"The new gaffer has come in and been able to express to the players what he expects of them, with work rate and intensity obviously being the main things and we've seen that in the performance.

"The players obviously recognise that there are some slots up for grabs. We worked hard in the couple of days building up to the game and that has carried over into the performance tonight.

"(Steve) Bruce has definitely made an impact. The tactical adjustments have worked a treat tonight. Obviously, he hasn't had long to try and get those points across to us as staff to try to influence the players, but they've worked hard and taken it onto the pitch.

"We set up a different formation today which I think suited us perfectly with our personnel. All the instructions he gave us we tried to do them to the best of our ability.

"We've had him for two days now in training and straight away we've picked up and we've adapted very quickly. When a new manager comes in you are always going to want to impress. The workrate has always been there because that's the type of group we are."

Jonjo Shelvey added:

"It feels like a club that is moving on a bit, I think we've got to do that. Rafa (Benitez) isn't here anymore, we need to get on with it.

"Steve has come in and it's been like a breath of fresh air. The fans need to give him a chance because I think, if they do that, if we play like we did on Saturday, we will do well week-in, week-out and they won't have any reason for complaint.

"I think Steve is more straight with you. As soon as he came in, all he expects is that you work hard. If you work hard you will be fine. That's what we need to do.

"We've constantly been told we are not good enough. People have kept telling us we were going to go down, but we've proven them wrong and we stayed up both times.

"The main motivation is to stay up, that's the first target. We need to stay in the Premier League. We don't want to drop down into the Championship, it's getting harder and harder to get out of it.

"We don't want to keep going down and coming back up again. We are too good for that. We need stability and we need to stay in the Premier League for a long time.

"I saw him in the summer in Portugal and we said hello. Obviously I didn't know he was going to end up being my manager, so it's a good thing I did stop and say hello!

"He deserves a bit more credit than he gets. Even within two days, look at the difference from the other day. You won't find many people who don't speak highly of Steve."

Manuel Pellegrini said: 

"I think that we are working the pre-season in a way that we planned for at the start. We had ten days in Switzerland where we worked mostly in a physical way and in China we have played two friendly games to see what level we are at.

"We used these two games also to give minutes to the whole squad for I think that, for the moment, we are working well and we need to finish the next few weeks trying to be mentally and physically ready.

"In this moment, we have Sebastien Haller who just arrived at the Club and we also have Javier Hernandez and Antonio, who are two players who can also play as a striker.

“Until the last day or the last hour of the transfer market, you can make changes but I think, in this moment, with those players we have good options.”

Jack Wilshere commented:

"In the first half I think Newcastle played well – let's give them some credit. They set up differently to what we expected and maybe they caught us by surprise.

"We didn’t know who should press the centre-back and who should stay and when you've got a player like (Jonjo) Shelvey in the middle controlling the game it makes it difficult."

A first half effort from Yoshinori Muto secured third place for Newcastle in the Premier League Asia Trophy in the Chinese city of Shanghai, West Ham having lost 1-4 to Manchester City in Nanjing immediately after our 0-4 reverse there at the hands of Wolves.

With Steve Bruce and coaches Stephen Clemence and Steve Agnew watching from the stand, interim coach Ben Dawson again oversaw the team from the dugout.

A tactical change from the back four fielded against Wolves saw the black and whites revert to the 3-5-2 (or 3-5-1-1) formation that they were more familiar with last season. 

There were a trio of changes from that defeated by Wolves; Martin Dubravka, Fabian Schar and Elias Sorensen in as Karl Darlow, Achraf Lazaar and Jacob Murphy dropped to the bench. However, there was again no place for Dwight Gayle or Paul Dummett among the substitutes due to fitness issues.

Newcastle came close to an eighth minute opener when Jonjo Shelvey's long ball out of defence reached Isaac Hayden in space down the right. His rapid low centre eluded the onrushing Yoshinoro Muto, but fell perfectly for Sorensen in a central position.

Sadly though the Danish youngster was unable to mark his first senior start for the club with a goal, sending his first-time volley over the crossbar.

A speculative effort from Muto then flew narrowly wide of the Hammers goal shortly after, as the Geordies continued to shade the early exchanges.

Newcastle deservedly went ahead on 34 minutes when Hayden sprayed a pass from midfield to Jamie Sterry, whose sweeping right wing cross was touched in from eight yards by the unmarked Muto.

The Magpies survived a penalty appeal in the closing stages of the first half, when Ciaran Clark was struck on the arm in the box by a ball propelled at close range from Andriy Yarmolenko.

Thankfully though, the VAR system that could well have ruled out Muto's goal for offside isn't in use at this tournament and the local referee waved play on rather than pointing to the spot.

The expected half time replacements preceded a scrappy opening to the second period, neither side creating a meaningful chance until Felipe Anderson grazed Dubravka's crossbar with a header from a corner in the 63rd minute.

Newcastle thought that they'd extended their advantage ten minutes later following a water break, when West Ham's corner was cleared and Jacob Murphy led the counter attack.

Muto took the ball forward towards the left before picking Shelvey on the far side of the box and his low drive was helped into the net by Sean Longstaff, only for it to be disallowed for offside. 

There were two chances for Rolando Aarons (on as a makeshift striker) finishing off one good combination involving Matty Longstaff and Achraf Lazaar. only for the Moroccan to be flagged offside. Aarons was then out-muscled after bursting into the opposition area.

Two minutes of added time concluded a typically slack second half in 31 degree temperatures, West Ham's best chance of taking the game to a penalty shootout in the Hongkou Stadium snuffed out by a timely challenge from Jamaal Lascelles on Grady Diangana.

An improved performance and a victory then, abetted by the listless nature of the Hammers. Despite the Premier League opposition though, it's all a million miles from the real stuff and once again we're playing pre-season games with no real idea of who will be in the starting XI come August 11th.

Jonjo Shelvey's improved mood was noticeable on and off the field (obviously people have better manners in China than Morpeth) and he heads the line of players seemingly destined for pastures new had Benitez stayed, but now given another chance. He'll rarely get the time and space he enjoyed today though, when the real stuff begins.

Hopefully Bruce's considerable experience will sniff out the undoubted wrong 'uns among them though and ship them out, rather than falling for the "like a new signing" line that his predecessor Alan Pardew was palmed off with. Who goes is as vital as who stays.  

If nothing else, this was a memorable for the long-suffering followers of this club based across Asia who made it to Shanghai from elsewhere in China in addition to Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and various other far-flung outposts. Hopefully memories of this trip will provide some solace after yet another fruitless early morning gathered round the TV during the following season....

PS: The Asia Trophy was won by Wolves in the final that followed, 90 minutes failing to produce a goal between them and Manchester City. With no extra time played, the game went straight into what was an error-strewn penalty shootout that Wolves eventually won 3-2 - City having also missed a spot kick during the game.

Thanks to Paul English for photos