The feeling at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or did there exist a thread holding it together in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the management had not mentioned the transfer ban they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
