The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful 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. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or had there never been a thread holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Comeback
A single player remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his owning club were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was still trying to determine the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
