The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element keeping it intact to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
At least one man remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Finding His True Position
Maybe Sarri was still trying to determine the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
