The feeling at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the management had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Surprising Comeback
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were attempting to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn