The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded ten goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or was there ever any cohesion maintaining its structure in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining first five games, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if they're getting better or imploding.
Matteo's Surprising Return
At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were attempting to stay there temporarily. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He signed originally during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to identify the specific characteristics of his skill set. Labeled as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
