The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had let in 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion maintaining its structure to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club became as messy in their performances as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it's been difficult to ascertain if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Surprising Presence
At least one man remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this year. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The registration embargo forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to determine the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
