The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that he could resign were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to remain there a while longer. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to reduce their roster without replacements.
He signed originally under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
