The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned the transfer ban they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
