The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever a binding element holding it together from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, before he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy on the pitch as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
A single player continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this season. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
