The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other initial five matches, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to ascertain if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Presence
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this season. He was on the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster 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 with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the nature of his skill set. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
