The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had let in 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Comeback
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were attempting to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He signed in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
