The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or was there ever a thread maintaining its structure to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he admitted that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Speculation that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy on the pitch as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they're getting better or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Comeback
A single player remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there for another season. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of his skill set. Labeled as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
