The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side 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 wrapping up their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or did there exist a thread keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this year. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were attempting to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Finding His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
