The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or had there never been a thread holding it together from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. 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 off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this season. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
He signed in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
