An idiot yes but not overatted. How can you call a player over-rated who's been a top scorer year after year ? Zarate hasn't even made the top scorers list and plays every game 90 minutes ... he hasn't proved his worth if you ask me .. and there are players paid much less doing much more than he is on other teams. I don't judge a player on potential which is meaningless .. i judge them on their current stats.

http://www.football-italia.net/dec31h.html

http://www.football-italia.net/dec31o.html

Totti raises the bar on Zarate. Hopefully his 240(and counting) goal mark can motivate Zarate for the rest of his career to beat this record.

Prediction- Lets just say Totti ends up with 280 goals by the end of his 20 year career. 280/20=16 goals a season. The bar is set for Zarate.

Lazio boss Davide Ballardini has given Argentinian striker Mauro Zarate a very public dressing down after his performance in yesterday’s 4-1 win over Livorno.
 
Ballardini also singled out Aleksandar Kolarov and Mobido Diakhite, but Zarate bore the brunt of his attack.
 
Speaking to Il Corriere dello Sport, Ballardini: “Those players who made mistakes bothered me with their attitude. It’s wrong to behave like this, but Rome carries with it these exasperations.
 
“You have to be capable of managing these moments. The team has played well, but the lads can only overcome this difficult moment if they remain lucid.
 
“And instead Kolarov, Zarate and Diakite have got it wrong. They need to improve their attitude.
 
“Zarate was the penalty taker, but he didn’t deserve to take it, because he had an ugly game. But this is not the problem.
 
“On the whole, Zarate did not do well in wanting to be alive in the play, with or without the ball. Zarate could have done a lot more. Today he had an enormous score for losing the ball. He is a great player if he is in the game. As for quality, he remains one of those players who can invent something in any given moment.
 
“But management is not only about teaching technique. It also means education, respect for your team-mates, professionalism. This is what I am talking about.”
 
“There was an attitude that bothered me a lot. In the week of the game against Inter, Zarate left for Argentina and returned to Rome only on December 29, late and without permission. You can make mistakes but you also have to reflect on your errors.
 
“It’s a management problem, the club didn’t give him any permission. I look at attitude. This behaviour is not right towards his team-mates, those people with whom he trains, but also the fans who like to see Zarate.
 
“I have not said that it’s Rome’s fault. It’s the atmosphere that leads you into having these tensions, this attitude, the desire to be a protagonist. For me, it’s the team that has to be the protagonist. Rome can lead you to being too individualistic.”
 
Finally Ballardini rejected reports that this means Lazio are looking to sell Zarate.
 
“Mauro is an extraordinary player. We would struggle to keep him out. The argument regards his attitude. He could be much more useful to the team,” Ballardini concluded.

I totaly agree with Balla here! As a sports coach myslef i can understand his comments and i'm sure we can all agree that Zarate needs to change the way he plays. He has to stop being so greedy and he has to think more as a team player. It's Balla's job to change this and reinforce this to him in training and in the dressing room. It's all well and good saying it in the media but he has to say it to Zarate himself!

Theres no I in team. Yesturday at times, a lot of the time actually, Zarate looked isolated, dribbling himself into a stupour, ignoring team mates in a btter position. When he actually works for the team good things happen, as it did when he set up Floccari with a decent assist. This is what he needs to do more often, but when will he learn this, will he ever learn this? I don't no.

Ballardini has been 'honest' for once, but where was all of this honesty months ago, when we couldnt even register a goal let alone a win, as opposed to all those excuses. Its about time he had a public evaluation too really, because he is a crap coach, putting it mildly, and should not be here at all.

one of the few times that i agree with ballardini,but still he shouldn't have made these comments to the media. These are internal issues of the team .

Attitude is huge and not always a guarantee that a player will shake out of it.  If anyone remembers a player named recoba he was a perfect example of extreme skill yet no motivation who spent most of his career on the bench.

Lets hope zarate starts contributing and living up to his potential soon not only to help the team but maybe even get some bigger teams banging on the door offering $$ one day.  If Cassano was not such a head case he would have not been sold so cheaply to Samp and even though his attitude is poor at times he still is a team player.  I don't completley disagree with Balla speaking out with the media on this, maybe he has tried to discuss this with zarate one on one with no results and nothing has worked, now all fans are aware that Balla is aware and will wake zarate up.  Still want to see a new coach regarless, Atalanta just sacked Conte and it seems we will be the last team in Serie to get rid of a failing coach.

When I thought the things will go good for us....shit...
But in this case I support Maurito. Balla shouldn't have talked to the media