The atmosphere at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, only for him publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
Matteo's Surprising Presence
A single player remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were pushing for him to extend his stay temporarily. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
