The feeling at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Reports that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Presence
A single player remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this season. He spent last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his parent club were attempting to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
