The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a thread holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Reports that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
A single player remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He completed last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to stay there for another season. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
He signed initially during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to determine the nature of the player's talent. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
