The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had let in ten goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy during matches as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if progress is being made or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
