The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread maintaining its structure in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this season. He was on last season 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 signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived initially when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Uncovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
