Lippi Talks, Puts Pressure on Everyone

By: Julian | April 12th, 2011

Marcello Lippi, despite a disastrous second spell in charge of the Italian National team, will always be held in high esteem by Italians worldwide. After all, this is the man that nearly immediately redeemed calcio in the face of a match-fixing scandal in the best way possible: by winning the World Cup. When he speaks, people listen. His latest interview, however, might have some wishing that he hadn’t opened his mouth at all.

From Football Italia:

I see a little bit of myself again in Allegri. When I went to Juve from Napoli I had the same assuredness and enthusiasm. Walter Mazzarri is also very prepared at Napoli and by now he has showed that he knows what he is doing. Napoli do well to believe in the Scudetto. Anything can happen.

[Re: Cesare Prandelli's Italy:] It’s a great group of players and seems like the one I was preparing for the World Cup in Germany. Prandelli is working a lot on the team even if he has been forced to call up Italian players who don’t play for top teams. There are too many foreigners in big clubs in Serie A.

Juve really need to get into the Champions League. It will not be easy. As for Buffon, I hope that he doesn’t leave the Bianconeri. The team needs great players.”

The AC Milan coach might take the comparison to the great man himself favorably, although it surely does put quite a bit of pressure on his shoulders. Lippi’s achievements in Serie A are so storied that one actually has to scroll down to read them all on Wikipedia. Allegri? Well he may be on the verge of winning a title but has yet to win anything and is known as being a bit tactically naive, a statement that could hardly apply to Lippi (disclaimer: pre-2008 only).

The biggest burden of them all however was surely given to Prandelli’s side. Just when Cesare was beginning to form a solid group, Lippi had to go and ruin it. The expectations that Lippi throws upon them are enormous by comparing the team to the one he coached- you know, the won that actually won a World Cup. Prandelli’s side is far from the finished product, and while it is nice to see faith in the Azzurri after years of doubt, this surely might be a little extreme.

Of course, Lippi may just be praising Allegri and Prandelli and I could be reading too much into what he’s saying. But given that both teams have very much to prove and haven’t won anything yet, the comparisions may be a bit too over the top from the great cigar man.

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Category: Serie A

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jorid22

"....match-fixing scandal..."

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JulianJ

Why is it always about roma here?? You couldnt help yourself from mentioning Prandelli (best know for coaching roma for 2months in 2005) could you?
Tottigol

Bah Gawd, whats with all these Julians running wild over offside blogs.
Sampath

Il Mister's words are always wise
Elaine

I think Lippi is just being complementary to Allegri & Mazzari. I personally hope he is wrong about Napoli and right about Buffon!

As for the NT, I always like having lots of Italians to call up from big teams, it's a no-brainer. But I think Serie A is different than other leagues in that some of the mid-table teams can prepare players for the NT just about as well as the big teams because the league is more competitive. Especially since Italian teams have an odd aversion to staying and playing in European competition lately!! ;)

Anyway, tanti auguri, Lippi!
Abyssight

"There are too many foreigners in big clubs in Serie A."

Yawn. Like it or not, these foreigners are what keep Serie A a top league in Europe. Replacing Eto'o, Sneijder, Ibrahimovic, Pato, Cavani, Hamsik, etcetc with Italians will make Serie A or the national team much worse.

I really wish Lippi ceased to exist after 2006. He did nothing positive ever since the WC victory.
jorid22

Eto'o's presence or lack thereof at inter has a huge impact on the Italian NT?

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv...
Abyssight

I don't know why you single out one player at one club as an example. In fact, you are missing the point by some country miles.

The idea is simple. Presence of top players improve the quality of the league. And, unfortunately, there are only so many world class Italian players that top Serie A teams inevitably import foreign players. Inter is the obvious example(scapegoat) but it holds true for all serious title contenders. Since most of the Azzurri play in Italy, quality of the Serie A will have a huge impact on the level of play they are accustomed to, and that in turn have a huge impact on how they perform in the NT.
jorid22

And just to clarify, amidst my shitty sarcasm, I can see your point making some sense in principle. The presence of an Ibra, of an Eto'o etc only does Serie A good.

The whole idea of a guy like say, Bonucci, becoming much more effective for his national team and an overall much better player just because he gets to mark an in-form Cavani twice a year for 90 minutes (if the stars align right and neither has any injuries, suspensions that is) doesn't really do it for me though.

Although there might be some benefits to what you're suggesting, I don't see it being as great of a factor as you think.

The whole mentality that exists about young players and how they are brought up/taught football in youth systems has a lot more to do with it all.
Abyssight

"The whole idea of a guy like say, Bonucci, becoming much more effective for his national team and an overall much better player just because he gets to mark an in-form Cavani twice a year for 90 minutes (if the stars align right and neither has any injuries, suspensions that is) doesn't really do it for me though."

See, you AGAIN takes ONE player as example. What about the times Juve has against Inter, Milan, Lazio, Roma, Udinese, Fiorentina? What about the times he got to practice with Krasic? I am talking about the level of play of the entire Serie A. Jesus Christ. How hard is that to understand?
Comrade

quality of the Serie A will have a huge impact on the level of play they are accustomed to, and that in turn have a huge impact on how they perform in the NT.

Yup, that worked very well for England.
jorid22

Don't forget that the Spanish NT was decimating everything in sight when the first Galactico era was around in the early 2000's as well.

They won it all thanks to O Fenomeno and Zizou lighting up La Liga stadiums on a weekly basis: back to back WC's, dominant Euro performances etc.
Julian

And a very happy birthday to the legend, who is 63 today.