The feeling at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread holding it together in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if progress is being made or imploding.
Matteo's Surprising Comeback
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
