The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, but then he admitted that the management had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if progress is being made or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay temporarily. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Uncovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
