The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two 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.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign falling apart, or did there exist any cohesion maintaining its structure to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Reports that he might quit were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.
Matteo's Surprising Return
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this season. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the nature of the player's talent. Originally described as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
