The feeling at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy in their performances as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
At least one man continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived initially when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an unconvincing alternative 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
