Marcello Lippi has praised new Inter Coach Roberto Mancini, as well as offering words of comfort to the man he replaced, Walter Mazzarri.
Marcello Lippi has praised new Inter Coach Roberto Mancini, as well as offering words of comfort to the man he replaced, Walter Mazzarri.
Lippi is himself a former Nerazzurri Coach, spending a largely unhappy season on the San Siro bench in the 1999/2000 campaign before being sacked after one match the following camaign.
Mancini was confirmed as the new Inter Coach on Friday, rejoining to the club he won three Scudetti with. Lippi endured a difficult return when he returned to the Italy bench in 2008, but the World Cup winner sees differences between his experience and Mancio’s.
“You can’t come back after you win the World Cup,” Lippi mused to Gazzetta dello Sport.
“[For Mancini] the situation is different.
“Everything has changed at Inter since he left, and he himself is a guarantee.
“Coaches – like players – have a brand, and Mancini has all the hallmarks of a great Coach because he has won everywhere."
The former Juventus” data-scaytid=”23″>Juventus Coach also had words of comfort for Mancini’s predecessor Walter Mazzarri, who was sacked for the first time in his career to make way for Mancini's return.
“Mazzarri is a great professional, but he had created a situation which didn’t help him.
“At 66, I can tell him that he shouldn’t worry about his first sacking, because sometimes sackings are necessary in a Coach’s career so he can think, study and travel.
“This is coming from someone who was sacked three times – by Cesena, Siena and Inter.”
Mancini’s first match on his return to the Inter bench will be the Derby della Madonnina with city rivals Milan, and Lippi sees two evenly-matched sides.
“I’m not sitting on the fence when I say this, but they’re two different teams, both incomplete,” Lippi’s analysis began.
“Inter are younger, with the possibility to build something. Milan are a more experienced team with a Coach in Inzaghi who is full of enthusiasm and knows the dynamics of the club.
“It will be an open and even derby, but both Inter and Milan seem a long way off third place.”