The feeling at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to ascertain if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He spent last season on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was still trying to work out the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
