The mood at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him publicly stated that the management had not mentioned the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Speculation that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized in their performances as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
One individual kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He was on last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances for Lazio 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 "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
