The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever a binding element holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were facing for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their initial five matches, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Presence
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, Lazio were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign 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, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
