Marcelo Lippi's Second Coming

The Italian football federation has officially unveiled Marcelo Lippi as their new national team coach in a press conference on Tuesday.

This is the second time that Lippi has taken over the job of coaching the Azzuri.He led Italy to the 2006 Germany World Cup triumph and has now been recalled by the Italian FA in the wake of the Euro 2008 catastrophe suffered by Italy under the sacked coach Roberto Donadoni.

This is what Lippi said in his first press conference as the new Italian national football team coach:

"Naturally I am happy to pick up where I left off, even though that means our Nazionale did not do as well as we all thought.

“When I was asked by Federations to go and coach their country, I said no tactician who won the World Cup with his own country could try to do the same with another nation a year later.

“I received some very, very interesting offers, but as the European Championship approached I felt the strong desire to regain the place I had left and made myself ready for this opportunity if it arose. I won't list all the sides I turned down, but from a certain point onwards I felt the need to return.

“I felt in debt to the Federation and therefore my way of repaying that would be turning down all the other alternatives.”

We must be careful not to fall into the trap of following the wave of enthusiasm in Spain where there are some very young players who until now had won nothing, but at club level have a great deal of experience.

“In recent years they reached that level of performance to earn a deserved European Championship.

“We are in a different situation. We have a group of players who two years ago won the World Cup with a fantastic performance. We must find a balance between using those experienced players and finding new faces who can fit into the squad.

“I love all those players who shared this experience with me, but that doesn't mean they will all stay on. Some certainly have a lot more to give and we need to find a balance.

"We have proved a thousand times at club and international level that the age of Catenaccio is dead.

“Italian football has changed so much from the clichés and certainly does not just sit back and defend. Don't forget we played a portion of the World Cup Final with four strikers on the field.

“We will aim to create an immediate competitive squad that plays in an aggressive, attacking and intelligent fashion.

“I admire the new unity in European teams, with sides such as Manchester United who have Wayne Rooney helping out in midfield, and that is something we have done to a degree already and will do so more.

"I firmly believe we should respect the opinion of two great players (Totti and Nesta) who have given so much to the Nazionale.

“I have absolutely no intention of trying to talk them out of retirement, as they have made their decision.

“If anything, I can give advice to anyone who arrives at a certain stage of their career with difficulty dealing with a packed fixture list and injuries so they decide to retire from international duty.

“Don't say 'I quit the national team,' instead explain they are temporarily dedicating themselves to the club because they cannot handle the two requirements, that way if there are injuries and suspensions so they are needed, then they can come back. I think some of those who made this decision to retire do regret in a way the manner of their departure.

“I speak to Totti on the phone fairly often and saw him at my birthday party. We have never talked about the Nazionale and won't start now. I respect the decision of professionals who made a choice that I'm sure it hurt them to make.”

My idea is to revive the squad I left behind.

“I don't think it is one that needs to be shelved or scrapped entirely, but rather with new arrivals who can fit in.

“We played in several different tactical forms during those two years and it is important to create organisation between the defence and midfield with two or three creative players upfront.

“It doesn't matter so much whether they are centre-forwards, wingers or support strikers, the real question is the overall mentality of a team that tries to pressure its opponents and also knows when to defend.

“It would be lovely to dominate a game for 90 minutes, but that means you are facing a really poor opponent. A great team must know how to attack, maintain and defend.

“Undoubtedly if I came back here it is because those sensations we felt two years ago were so wonderful that we wanted to repeat them.

“In that I don't so much mean the joy of victory, but the time you spend with the entire squad of 30-35 players throughout two years to create a solid and psychologically united team. That is the only real condition needed to win a competition.

“It is important not to assume qualification (for the 2010 World Cup) will be a formality.

“That is the worst mistake a side can make and the best way to begin an unsuccessful spell. Only once we qualify for the World Cup can we begin even thinking about winning the tournament against the likes of Brazil, Argentina and Germany.

“We faced Ireland in a friendly in August 2005 and it was a tough game, our first at the end of a year in which we had experimented the new side.

"It was there we started to think in a certain way about building the system and our confidence in our own abilities.

“I am sure Trapattoni will give them even more strength and unity, so Ireland will be a formidable opponent."