The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or did there exist any cohesion maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were attempting to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.
He signed originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
