The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever a binding element holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, but then he admitted that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Unexpected Presence
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this year. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
