The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he admitted that the board had not mentioned the transfer ban they were facing for fiscal problems. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other first five games, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if progress is being made or imploding.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on last season with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his parent club were attempting to stay there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His True Position
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
