The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the club had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
A single player continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this year. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his owning club were attempting to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
