The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent 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 Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, before he admitted that the management had not mentioned a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
A single player remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to stay there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to reduce their roster with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived initially during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Finding His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to work out the nature of his skill set. Originally described as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
