The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a binding element holding it together to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, only for him admitted that the management had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if they're getting better or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Comeback
A single player remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
