I don't think anyone is 'assassinating' him or his reputation, it's more a hope that his value doesn't increase based upon his world cup performances. We all know he's much better than his performance today, but it wasn't great, was it?
Bearing in mind that this is realistically Iran's only winnable game, as long as he doesn't up his game today, he may not be attracting any further interest any time soon, and he should be done with the World Cup soon enough also.