The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign falling apart, or was there ever a binding element holding it together from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
He signed initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to identify the specific characteristics of his skill set. Labeled as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
