The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or had there never been a thread holding it together in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Rumours that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, observers have struggled to ascertain if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unexpected Comeback
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined originally during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
