The feeling at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a binding element holding it together in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this year. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were attempting to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, then 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 coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Best Role
It's possible the coach was still trying to determine the exact type of his skill set. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
