The mood at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread keeping it intact to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He completed the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were pushing for him to remain there a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He signed in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was still trying to determine the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
