The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, but then he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it's been difficult to tell if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Comeback
At least one man remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this year. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to weaken their team lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one 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 would be a star then never playing him."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
