The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever a binding element holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, only for him publicly stated that the club had not mentioned the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to ascertain if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He was on last season at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, Lazio were advocating for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived initially during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup 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
