The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him publicly stated that the management had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
At least one man remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this season. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league for Lazio in 2022-23, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
