The feeling at Lazio's home ground was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this year. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, Lazio were attempting to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived initially during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league with the club in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to determine the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
