The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, only for him publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
Matteo's Surprising Return
One individual remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there for another season. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
