The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion maintaining its structure in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Surprising Presence
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this year. He was on last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team without replacements.
He joined originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Originally described as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
