The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, but then he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Rumours that he might quit were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it's been difficult to determine if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Return
At least one man remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to remain there temporarily. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed originally during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
