The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread maintaining its structure from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining initial five matches, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were attempting to stay there for another season. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
He signed initially when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was still trying to work out the specific characteristics of his skill set. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
