The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent last season with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to extend his stay a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
