The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, but then he to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Rumours that he could resign were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized in their performances as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to ascertain if progress is being made or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio this year. He completed the last one at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
