The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign falling apart, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Surprising Comeback
At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
