The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or did there exist any cohesion maintaining its structure in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or imploding.
The Youngster's Surprising Comeback
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He spent last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the nature of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
