The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had let in ten goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he admitted that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Rumours that he could resign were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to feature for Lazio this year. He was on the last one with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
He signed originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
