The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a binding element holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, but then he publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Comeback
At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
