The feeling at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had let in 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, only for him admitted that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
One individual kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He signed in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
