The feeling at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign falling apart, or had there never been a thread holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to ascertain if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Presence
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his owning club were pushing for him to stay 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 initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
