The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or had there never been a thread maintaining its structure in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining initial five matches, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Return
One individual continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He completed the last one with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk 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 accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
