The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy on the pitch as off the field, 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're getting better or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
At least one man remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
