The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Reports that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other initial five matches, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they're getting better or collapsing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this year. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself 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, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
