The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or did there exist a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, only for him admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it's been difficult to ascertain if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
At least one man kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad with no new signings.
He signed initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was still trying to identify the nature 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 as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
