The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Reports that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated 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 collapsing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Presence
At least one man remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to work out the exact type of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
