The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded ten goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a binding element holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the management had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy in their performances as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Presence
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this year. He spent last season at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were attempting to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to reduce their roster with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived originally under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
