The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread holding it together from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Reports that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his owning club were attempting to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
It's possible the coach was still trying to identify the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
