The atmosphere at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a binding element holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he admitted that the management had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Reports that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to determine if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He completed last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined originally 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, who left following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
