The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him admitted that the club had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Presence
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster without replacements.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league with the club in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
