The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances 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. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to determine if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
A single player continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this season. He was on the last one with Parma on loan and, early this summer, Lazio were attempting to remain there a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined initially during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league with the club in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
