The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Comeback
One individual kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this season. He spent last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to identify the nature of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
