The feeling at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he admitted that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Reports that he could resign were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to ascertain if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He was on the last one with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to stay there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
He signed originally under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old graduate 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, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
