The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this season. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay temporarily. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team without replacements.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances with the club in 2022-23, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
