The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized in their performances as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it's been difficult to determine if progress is being made or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Return
One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
Cancellieri arrived originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
