The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign falling apart, or was there ever a binding element holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Presence
At least one man remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this year. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team with no new signings.
He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Uncovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
