The atmosphere at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or had there never been a thread maintaining its structure in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, only for him publicly stated that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
A single player continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of his skill set. Originally described 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. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
