The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or had there never been a thread holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to determine if progress is being made or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
A single player remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He spent last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the nature of his skill set. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
