The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or did there exist any cohesion keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he admitted that the club had not mentioned the transfer ban they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club became as messy in their performances as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return
At least one man remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to determine the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
