The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they're getting better or collapsing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there for another season. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the nature of his skill set. Labeled as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
