The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded ten goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign falling apart, or did there exist any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that he could resign were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to ascertain if they're getting better or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return
One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this year. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
