Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles has praised the tactics of Steve Bruce and said the new manager has had an immediate impact.
Bruce finally joined the Magpies on July 17 after a long period of speculation over who would replace Rafael Benitez at the helm at St James’ Park.
The ex-Sheffield Wednesday boss watched from the stands as his new club beat West Ham 1-0 in Shanghai to finish third in the Premier League Asia Trophy.
Bruce selected the Newcastle XI and novel 3-5-2 formation, but took a watching brief, allowing the interim pair of Ben Dawson and Neil Redfearn to direct proceedings.
Despite his absence from the touchline, Lascelles said Bruce’s influence could already be felt by the players.
“We set up in a different formation today which I think suited us perfectly with our personnel,” the 25-year-old defender told the Premier League’s official website.
“All of the instructions he gave to 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 what type of group we are.”
It was not just Bruce’s team who were impressed with his tactics for the game.
Defeated West Ham midfielder Jack Wilshere was also struck by the way Newcastle set out to play and conceded that it had confused the Hammers.
“In the first half I think Newcastle played well – let’s give them some credit,” the former Arsenal man said.
“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.”
While Bruce has convinced the players early on in his reign it may take more than a good performance in pre-season to convince the fans.
The former Manchester United great admitted after his appointment that he had big boots to fill, replacing the popular Benitez, with his appointment not universally welcomed by the Toon Army support.