The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in 2022-23, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of his skill set. Originally described as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
