The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it has been hard to ascertain if progress is being made or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
At least one man kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were attempting to remain there a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived originally when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the specific characteristics of his skill set. Originally described as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
