The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Surprising Presence
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with 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 remain there temporarily. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
He signed in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league with the club in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
