The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Comeback
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were attempting to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to reduce their roster lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the nature of his skill set. Originally described as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
