The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his owning club were attempting to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster without replacements.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
