The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
A single player remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He spent last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Billed as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
