The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side 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 latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or did there exist any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to ascertain if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined originally under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was still trying to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
