The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had let in 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or did there exist a binding element holding it together in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, but then he publicly stated that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Matteo's Surprising Presence
At least one man continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He spent the last one with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He signed initially when Sarri was last in charge, 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 from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
