The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were attempting to stay there for another season. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
