The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he publicly stated that the club had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to stay there a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of his skill set. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy 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
