The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other initial five matches, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Unexpected Return
One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to stay there for another season. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the nature of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
