The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him publicly stated that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their initial five matches, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to tell if they're getting better or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his owning club were pushing for him to remain there a while longer. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad with no new signings.
He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
