The atmosphere at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent 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 Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him publicly stated that the management 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 "misled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, it has been hard to ascertain if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unexpected Return
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban 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 made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
