The feeling at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had let in a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, observers have struggled to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
