Jose Mourniho Gets A New Playmate In Marcello Lippi

By: chris | August 19th, 2009

With Carlo Ancelotti gone to his former beloved and Claudio Ranieri off on a beach collecting unemployment and sangrias, Jose Mourinho needed a new target which could land his ego in the presses constantly. In the long held tradition of clubs quarreling with country Jose handpicked Azzurri boss Marcello Lippi as his new playtoy.

Only it hasn’t gone quite as well as his former squabbles, what with the latest installment of the uber-witty “you’re stupid”….”no, you’re stupid”.

Normally that would be a slight exaggeration, but not here. File “not intelligent” for “stupid” and you’re nudging up to the verbatim.

Lippi earlier today:

“I had thought he was intelligent.

You do not win games when you stand in front of the cameras and talk, but rather with what you say in the locker room. That is where great teams are made. At the end of the day it is the players who step on to the field, not the Coaches. Mourinho, Ciro Ferrara and Leonardo cannot win alone.”

Mourinho later today:

“Lippi passed judgment on television the other night. Capello would never have done the same in England. Nor would Del Bosque in Spain.

No, they are far too intelligent to do that. I do not want to waste more time replying to the Italy Coach. I work every day for my club, on the field and in the locker room, with my team. I do not spend my time waiting around for a match to come around every now and then.”

This whole thing stems from an offhand interview where Lippi predicted that Juventus, his old club, would win the scudetto while Inter, also his old club, would not. This irked Jose, as every piece of silverware the world over has his name on it until someone else gets lucky and wins it. Or so he would think.

Well, it’s more the fact that Jose feels it imprudent for a national team coach to predict the champion, which isn’t entirely untrue. It’s just that Lippi has his motivations, ones which everyone in the peninsula know and, largely, accept:

i. He coached both teams, yes, but Juventus is the one which tugs at his heart strings.
ii. Juventus is bustling with Italian internationals while Inter is, well, not. In fact Inter, throughout this whole season, will likely have just one submission should he not suffer from the sophomore slump: Davide Santon. (If he won’t call up Cassano, he won’t call up Balotelli.)

You can certainly see the motivations behind Lippi’s statement for the good of his national team – and it’s impossible to argue with the motivations of…the great motivator. (It should also be mentioned that Juventus are and will be good.)

So it’s easily seen from both angles, and we’re not here to decide which is right or which is wrong. Just to sit back and watch as Jose Mourinho takes another coach down the long and winding road to putting his face in the papers.

And to hope that next time they hire speechwriters for their comebacks.