The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or was there ever a thread maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he admitted that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were facing for financial irregularities. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Presence
A single player continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this season. He spent the last one with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
