The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Reports that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining initial five matches, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Presence
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the nature of his skill set. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
