The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the club had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Presence
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this year. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the specific characteristics of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
