The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as behind the scenes, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to determine if they're getting better or collapsing.
Matteo's Surprising Return
One individual remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He was on last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."
Finding His True Position
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the nature of the player's talent. Originally described as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup 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
