The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in 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 collapsing.
Matteo's Surprising Comeback
One individual continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this year. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined originally during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in 2022-23, almost all of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
