The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, only for him publicly stated that the board had not mentioned 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.
The Roman club were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
At least one man kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team without replacements.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Finding His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn