The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or did there exist any cohesion keeping it intact in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, only for him admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other initial five matches, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to extend his stay temporarily. The transfer ban forced a rethink. They were unable to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old product 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. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
