The mood at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a binding element holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
He signed initially when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
