The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was far from happy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion maintaining its structure from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, only for him admitted that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Finding His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
