The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign falling apart, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He spent last season with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
