The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Reports that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to ascertain if progress is being made or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this season. He completed the last one at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was still trying to identify the specific characteristics of his skill set. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
