The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a binding element holding it together to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if progress is being made or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Return
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 attempting to extend his stay for another season. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the nature of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
