The atmosphere at their home stadium was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded 10 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 president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or was there ever a binding element holding it together to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other initial five matches, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed the last one on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his parent club were attempting to extend his stay temporarily. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived initially when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to identify the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
