The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or did there exist a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that he might quit were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining initial five matches, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Comeback
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this season. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to remain there for another season. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived initially when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the nature of his skill set. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
