The atmosphere at their home stadium was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Had their campaign falling apart, or did there exist a thread maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, only for him publicly stated that the club had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it's been difficult to determine if they're getting better or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Return
One individual continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were pushing for him to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
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 for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to work out the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
