The atmosphere at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
A single player remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived initially under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in 2022-23, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was still trying to identify the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
