The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Comeback
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, Lazio were attempting to remain there for another season. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to work out the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
