The feeling at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or did there exist any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the board had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Surprising Comeback
One individual continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
