'Is it mind games?' - Sky Sports pundit reacts to reveal from Leeds boss Bielsa

Marcelo Bielsa. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas - Pool/Getty Images)

The Hammers travel to Elland Road in the Premier League for an 8pm kick-off this evening, but the Argentine boss took the unorthodox step of naming his full starting XI in a press conference on Thursday.

This isn’t the first time Bielsa has named his side ahead of schedule, with the manager doing the same thing on a number of occasions during his time in the Championship.

And while Dickov has suggested that it could be a means of unsettling opposite number David Moyes, he has also argued that the Scot is too experienced to let the South American’s announcement get to him.

Speaking on Sky Sports News’ Football Show, he said: “He’s shown before that he’s not shy about letting everybody know what his team is going to be at times.

“Is it a little bit of mind games? Maybe it is, but David Moyes is way too experienced to get sucked into that one.

"The other thing is as well is that teams prepare for the opposition and who they’re playing against all week. They’ll be prepared for scenarios where somebody’s injured or somebody’s not in the team for whatever reason.

"Plus, you get the team an hour before kick-off as well, and you have all the fantastic analysts that you’ve got there, all the fantastic things they can do on their iPads.

"I don’t see it being a big thing whether he’s named his team and that is the team, or whether it’s not the team.”

Fellow pundit Lianne Sanderson agreed with the former Leeds striker.

She said: “I think we need personalities like Marcelo Bielsa in the league. It’s something fun to talk about.

"I was wondering if the translator was thinking, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ because it’s not what manager’s usually do.

"I think it’s absolutely brilliant we have personalities like this. It's a little bit different.

"I don't think he’s calling people’s bluff, I think that is the lineup he’s going to go with, but as we’ve seen before with the whole Spygate thing with Derby County, you never know with Bielsa.”