The mood 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 managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever a thread maintaining its structure to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unexpected Return
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, Lazio were pushing for him to extend his stay a while longer. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived initially when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to work out the specific characteristics of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
