The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Had their campaign falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion maintaining its structure in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Reports that he could resign were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy on the pitch as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Presence
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined originally under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the nature of the player's talent. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
