The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he admitted that the management had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
Matteo's Unexpected Comeback
One individual continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this season. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in 2022-23, almost all of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
