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The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.

The Campaign Unraveling?

Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.

Lazio became as messy during matches as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or imploding.

Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback

At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this year. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay temporarily. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster lacking backup options.

Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."

Uncovering His Best Role

Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn