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The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.

This Year's Efforts Unraveling?

Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been any cohesion maintaining its structure to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Rumours that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.

The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to ascertain if they're getting better or collapsing.

Matteo's Unexpected Return

A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there for another season. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team lacking backup options.

Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances with the club in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."

Finding His Best Role

It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn