The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, but then he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they are improving or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
At least one man continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to reduce their roster without replacements.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-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, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
