The mood at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the club had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Comeback
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the specific characteristics of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
