The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or did there exist a binding element holding it together from the beginning? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Presence
At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were pushing for him to extend his stay temporarily. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
