The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a thread keeping it intact to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were facing for financial irregularities. Reports that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Comeback
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He spent the last one on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were attempting to remain there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the nature of the player's talent. Originally described as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
