The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was the team's progress unraveling, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, before he publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to reduce their roster with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He made 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to identify the nature of his skill set. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
