The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or was there ever a binding element maintaining its structure in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, only for him publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Reports that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this season. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in 2022-23, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
