The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had conceded ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned the transfer ban they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return
One individual remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He spent the last one with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his owning club were pushing for him to extend his stay a while longer. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
