The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a thread holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Surprising Comeback
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this season. He spent the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to identify the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
