The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign falling apart, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.
Matteo's Surprising Comeback
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this season. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his owning club were attempting to remain there for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the nature of the player's talent. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
