The feeling at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded ten goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign falling apart, or did there exist any cohesion holding it together in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to determine if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
At least one man continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to stay there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
