The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this year. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed originally under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the nature of his skill set. Labeled as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
