The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread maintaining its structure to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Reports that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining first five games, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it has been hard to determine if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
One individual remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in 2022-23, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
