The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or was there ever a binding element holding it together to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
At least one man kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
He signed originally under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in 2022-23, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former 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
It's possible the coach was still trying to work out the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
