The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he admitted that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this season. He completed the last one on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined initially during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
