The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had let in ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element holding it together to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy during matches as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Presence
A single player remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league with the club in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
