The atmosphere at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, only for him publicly stated that the management had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Reports that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining first five games, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Presence
One individual remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, Lazio were attempting to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived originally under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the specific characteristics of his skill set. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
