The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or was there ever a thread keeping it intact to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he admitted that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Rumours that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Unforeseen Comeback
One individual continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this season. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to work out the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
