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The atmosphere at their home stadium was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.

This Year's Efforts Falling Apart?

Had their campaign unraveling, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.

The Roman club were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or imploding.

Matteo's Surprising Comeback

One individual remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his owning club were attempting to stay there a while longer. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.

He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential then never playing him."

Discovering His True Position

It's possible the coach was still trying to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn