The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Surprising Presence
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to stay there for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
