The mood at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him publicly stated that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that he could resign were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was still trying to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
