The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad with no new signings.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in 2022-23, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime 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."
Finding His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to work out the nature of the player's talent. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
