The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that he could resign were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Presence
A single player continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He spent the last one on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were attempting to stay there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived originally when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
