The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress falling apart, or was there ever a binding element holding it together from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to determine if they're getting better or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player remained positive throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were attempting to extend his stay a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined originally when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
