The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign falling apart, or had there never been a thread holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, 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 throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was still trying to identify the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
