The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or did there exist a binding element holding it together in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, before he publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their first five games, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they're getting better or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this season. He completed the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
He signed initially during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the nature of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
