The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Reports that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Presence
One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this year. He was on last season at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team without replacements.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Uncovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
