The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign falling apart, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were attempting to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team without replacements.
He joined originally under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
