The mood at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had allowed a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread holding it together from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Reports that he could resign were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Presence
A single player remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to remain there temporarily. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster without replacements.
He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. 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 but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was still trying to identify the nature of his skill set. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
