The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, before he publicly stated that the club had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place 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, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
