The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded 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 Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Unexpected Comeback
One individual continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to extend his stay for another season. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
