The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or did there exist any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio became as messy during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other first five games, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to determine if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this season. He was on the last one with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to remain there for another season. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
