The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two 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 Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion maintaining its structure in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club became as messy in their performances as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He signed originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
