The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it has been hard to determine if they're getting better or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to reduce their roster without replacements.
He signed originally under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
