The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or did there exist any cohesion holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him publicly stated that the club had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if progress is being made or imploding.
The Youngster's Unexpected Comeback
At least one man continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived initially when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
