The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this season. He spent last season at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were attempting to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
