The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever a thread maintaining its structure in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
A single player continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this season. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
He signed originally under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
