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The feeling at Lazio's home ground was far from happy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.

The Campaign Coming Unstitched?

Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he admitted that the management had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.

The Roman club became as messy in their performances as they were off it, 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, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or self-destructing.

Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return

One individual continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.

Cancellieri arrived originally under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."

Finding His Best Role

Maybe Sarri was still trying to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn