The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, but then he publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours 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 they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He spent last season at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were attempting to stay there for another season. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
