The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread maintaining its structure in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Reports that he might quit were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to ascertain if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Comeback
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. 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."
Finding His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of his skill set. Originally described as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
