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The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.

The Campaign Unraveling?

Was Lazio's season unraveling, or had there never been any cohesion keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.

Lazio appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.

Matteo's Unexpected Return

At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team without replacements.

He signed initially when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."

Finding His True Position

Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn