Steve Bruce watched on from the stands as his Newcastle United side beat West Ham United 1-0 in the third-place play-off for the Premier League Asia Trophy. 

A first-half goal from Yoshinori Muto gave the Magpies a much-deserved win.

Story of the game

Elias Sorensen had a fantastic chance within the first 10 minutes of the game for the Magpies, Jonjo Shelvey with a great ball from his own half to Isaac Hayden on the right-hand side who presented Sorensen with a wonderful chance at the back post, but the youngster struck it over the bar.

Newcastle were the much better side throughout the first half, with the Irons second to every ball and struggling to keep hold of possession.

West Ham’s only chance of the first half came as Javier Hernandez headed the ball over the bar after Felipe Anderson's early free-kick.

Newcastle took the lead after 33 minutes after Angelo Ogbonna lost the ball for West Ham and Jamie Sterry threatened from the right as he had been doing for most of the half, crossing to Muto who had time and space to find the back of the net.

Both teams made four changes at the break, with Robert Snodgrass, Carlos Sanchez, Jack Wilshere and Michail Antonio coming on for the Hammers.

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Whilst Newcastle brought on Federico Fernandez, Javier Manquillo, Jacob Murphy and Ki Sung-Yeung.

West Ham improved in the second half and came close on  63 minutes when Anderson headed against the crossbar shortly before being replaced.

After 73 minutes, Newcastle came close to scoring a brilliant goal on the break, Shelvey finding Muto who brought the ball forward and returned the ball back to Shelvey, his he picked out Sean Longstaff who finished well but was clearly offside.

Newcastle fans would have been happy to see Longstaff make an appearance; the promising midfielder came on for the last 25 minutes after returning from injury, whilst brother, Matthew Longstaff replaced Shelvey later in the game.

Despite the clear improvement, West Ham were unable to score in the second half and Newcastle came away with a 1-0 win.

Stand-out players

The man of the match for this game would have to go to Muto.

The striker played 78 minutes and was a constant problem for the opposition defence, his movement in the box was fantastic which allowed him a couple of opportunities to get on the score sheet, which he eventually did, scoring the winning goal in the first half.

Sterry, despite making just one Premier League appearance in 2016 which lasted just six minutes, had a fantastic first half, causing the West Ham defence problems with his crosses from the right-hand side, including an assist for Muto’s goal. He was replaced at half time but certainly deserves a mention.

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Newcastle continue their pre-season back in England with a game against Preston North End up next, whilst West Ham face Fulham for their next friendly.

Takeaways

The Magpies are much more suited to a three or five-man defence which allows them to control the midfield.

This was clear to see against the Hammers as they enjoyed almost 60% possession in the first half and looked like it was a matter of how many they would score.

With the Magpies playing with wing-backs it allows Shelvey to spray the ball out wide and stretch the play which allows them to get plenty of crosses into the box which caused West Ham all kinds of trouble.

Also, Muto may be able to find his feet this season if he stays injury-free and replace the void left by Ayoze Perez.

The Japanese international did not have a good campaign last season scoring just the one goal, but if he keeps up this form from pre-season he may be staking a claim to start against Arsenal.

Muto's movement was excellent against the Hammers in China never letting the defence settle which is what Newcastle need alongside a tall striker (like Salomon Rondon and Perez last season).

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