Mehdi Taremi @ FC Porto | 2021-2022

[Farzadfarhangni]

Not at all, I have my view and it is one I stand by. We have a tendency to throw our players under the bus for small mistakes, the same happened when Azmoun left the national team after World Cup and if I looked back there will be previous examples too.

Did the guy make a mistake , yes. He should have made his feelings known in a more professional manner. It does not deserve the level of distaste that some, including yourself, are giving here. Let’s move on and hope that it dealt with professionally behind the scenes so that we can have a successful qualifying campaign.

We'd all be happy to move on if he was too. But he is the one that is stuck and not willing to move on. And his stubbornness is causing chaos and may derail Iran's smooth qualification to WC.

[Leicester City]

Not at all, I have my view and it is one I stand by. We have a tendency to throw our players under the bus for small mistakes, the same happened when Azmoun left the national team after World Cup and if I looked back there will be previous examples too.

Did the guy make a mistake , yes. He should have made his feelings known in a more professional manner. It does not deserve the level of distaste that some, including yourself, are giving here. Let’s move on and hope that it dealt with professionally behind the scenes so that we can have a successful qualifying campaign.

I am not sure how you could compare Azmoun leaving the national team for abuse he's received to Taremi's incident where he consistently attacked the manager! Both 2 completely separate things! I am appalled how you could not differentiate between the 2 incidents.

What level of distaste? You can't just accuse me of having a level of distaste and not provide a solid example of such. Yet again, another straw man argument from you Medzdiz, refuting from the real argument. Now you are engaging in ad hominem by falsely accusing me of being distasteful.

[Medzdidz]

I am not sure how you could compare Azmoun leaving the national team for abuse he's received to Taremi's incident where he consistently attacked the manager! Both 2 completely separate things! I am appalled how you could not differentiate between the 2 incidents.

What level of distaste? You can't just accuse me of having a level of distaste and not provide a solid example of such. Yet again, another straw man argument from you Medzdiz, refuting from the real argument. Now you are engaging in ad hominem by falsely accusing me of being distasteful.

Look I get that we stand on slightly opposite sides of the argument. I get that we are emotional in who we are. I have seen your comments in other threads on the matter and I can see that you have your viewpoint, which is upset at Mehdi and you have your reasons.
I was comparing the situation with what happened with Azmoun after World Cup because my argument is that we are quick to throw our players under the bus. We will never know this situation and what has been said and not been said, we are relying on some tweets and also rumours and bad journalism of what may have happened.

Also this was a comment that he made and some time has passed now, we need to move on. I hope it is with Taremi in our squad because we are so much better for it - so let’s hope that all involved can put this situation to bed.

[Leicester City]

Look I get that we stand on slightly opposite sides of the argument. I get that we are emotional in who we are. I have seen your comments in other threads on the matter and I can see that you have your viewpoint, which is upset at Mehdi and you have your reasons.
I was comparing the situation with what happened with Azmoun after World Cup because my argument is that we are quick to throw our players under the bus. We will never know this situation and what has been said and not been said, we are relying on some tweets and also rumours and bad journalism of what may have happened.

Also this was a comment that he made and some time has passed now, we need to move on. I hope it is with Taremi in our squad because we are so much better for it - so let’s hope that all involved can put this situation to bed.

Yet again, you accuse me of "comments" regarding Mehdi but are yet to provide even a single example. Once again, refuting from the main argument which is that Taremi has been dropped by manager because of his unprofessional display off the pitch. Azmoun never attacked a manager and got dropped from the squad for it. I think out of respect for Azmoun's incident you should not compare the two because they are nothing alike for the reasons I've mentioned.

The coach will not randomly drop Taremi or any (player for that matter) and hurt his chances of a getting a winning result over nothing! Taremi took the manager's words out of context and took a subtle dig at him via social media, I'm not sure what's hard to grasp about that???

This is Skocic's interview word for word which Taremi took out of context and attacked him for:

[Medzdidz]

Yet again, you accuse me of "comments" regarding Mehdi but are yet to provide even a single example. Once again, refuting from the main argument which is that Taremi has been dropped by manager because of his unprofessional display off the pitch. Azmoun never attacked a manager and got dropped from the squad for it. I think out of respect for Azmoun's incident you should not compare the two because they are nothing alike for the reasons I've mentioned.
The coach will not randomly drop Taremi or any (player for that matter) and hurt his chances of a getting a winning result over nothing! Taremi took the manager's words out of context and took a subtle dig at him via social media, I'm not sure what's hard to grasp about that???
This is Skocic's interview word for word which Taremi took out of context and attacked him for:

I don’t think you are getting the argument I am trying to make - I am not comparing the situation , what I am saying is that when our players make a mistake or a judgement that we are too quick to throw them under the bus and judge them.
I am aware of the comments that were made (I also thank Milad for informing me of a slight mistake I made), I actually stand on this point of view. That our media made a mountain out of a mole hill, that Mehdi made a mistake in posting his comments publicly - if he had an issue then he should knock on the bosses door. I think that this situation should have already been resolved , ultimately the boss is the figurehead of the team and I am not sure what has gone on behind the scenes (we will never truly know). That we are a better team for having Taremi in there and that if we perform bad in the next two games that this may hinder our qualifying. Whether people feel Taremi is to blame or not as a manger you have to deal with the decisions that you made.
Against you, I have nothing at all against you. If we were to meet out I would buy you a drink and shake your hand. The comments I am talking about is where you have stayed your opinion across various threads, same as we all have. I didn’t think it was right to bring up from a previous Twitter comment, we have all made mistakes in our lives. Should Mehdi act with a better mind on social media - yes he should and I hope he gets someone to take charge of his account.

[Ali.Karimi79]

After observing and reading articles i am 100 with Skocic. Taremi terekmun zad.
His Hubris cost him his spot and he needs to learn this lesson the hard way.
Imagine Karim Bagheri is calling you and you don't answer him with your loosbazi.... wtf!
No one is bigger than the team!
We have enough quality forwards. I mean read these names:
Sardar Azmoun
Karim Ansarifard
Allahyar Sayyadmanesh
Kaveh Rezaie
Mehdi Ghaedi
Who needs Taremi here?!

He is a good footballer but must become a great sportsman.

Go TM! Go Skocic!

[diz]

After observing and reading articles i am 100 with Skocic. Taremi terekmun zad.
His Hubris cost him his spot and he needs to learn this lesson the hard way.
Imagine Karim Bagheri is calling you and you don't answer him with your loosbazi.... wtf!
No one is bigger than the team!
We have enough quality forwards. I mean read these names:
Sardar Azmoun
Karim Ansarifard
Allahyar Sayyadmanesh
Kaveh Rezaie
Mehdi Ghaedi
Who needs Taremi here?!

He is a good footballer but must become a great sportsman.

Go TM! Go Skocic!

It's one thing to side with Dragan on this, but please don't disrespect Taremi. The man has given his sweat and tears for TM and loves the fans. He will still be an important part of TM once this saga blows over.

[PerZiano]

After observing and reading articles i am 100 with Skocic. Taremi terekmun zad.
His Hubris cost him his spot and he needs to learn this lesson the hard way.
Imagine Karim Bagheri is calling you and you don't answer him with your loosbazi.... wtf!
No one is bigger than the team!
We have enough quality forwards. I mean read these names:
Sardar Azmoun
Karim Ansarifard
Allahyar Sayyadmanesh
Kaveh Rezaie
Mehdi Ghaedi
Who needs Taremi here?!
He is a good footballer but must become a great sportsman.
Go TM! Go Skocic!

Who needs Taremi?

Go and watch Iran vs Japan in AC2019 again.. then you will see how we had no offensive threat whatsoever without Taremi‘s positioning, physical presence and ability to hold the ball, as he was suspended.

That was a really disrespectful and non-sense comment, to ask whether one of the best asian strikers at the moment is needed or not..

[Keano]

To me discipline and respect always comes first, because without the presence of these 2 nothing can execute the way you want it to. Our 2006 TM is a notable example. That team had the potentials to advance to the next round as top 2 team of its WC group (had it not been battling with some of its arrogant superstars who put their ego and vendetta before their national team's pride)

Skocic has this submissive and soft personality, which is why Taremi allowed himself making such public comment aimed at his coach. Otherwise he, nor anyone else would have dared criticizing his own coach in public on a popular platform like Twitter.

So as much as I love Taremi and admire his footballing brilliance, I support Skocic's decision. May Taremi and the rest of the team learn a thing or two...

[ramingeles2000]

i've been going back and forth on this. The question I have is, has IFF/Skocic made an official statement on the exclusion? I haven't seen it anywhere. It would be foolish to not address the situation because then you let Iranian journalists take over the narrative and no one wants that. For example in the NBA, it's very cut and dry. A player misses practice or does "conduct detrimental to the team", the coach or team makes a simple 1-2 sentence statement, fines or suspends them, then we move on. But to not say ANYTHING or address it...invites interpretation, gossip, and drama. WHy hasn't IFF or skocic addressed this, letting it fester?

big balls by skocic. if he was the selfish dallal some of you claim he is, he'd never put his own career prospects at risk like this. there was enough ambiguity in mehdi's passive aggressive tweet for him to look the other way without looking soft. he could have kept mehdi on the roster and guaranteed his path to the WC...total career changer and cements him as a NT head coach in Asia for the rest of his career. Instead he stuck to principle in a very high cost way. If we lose points the next couple games he is in major trouble. overall it seems the TM fanbase it torn on this issue but i can guarantee you that if TM drops points, we'll quickly forget the pro-skocic arguments and blame him for not better navigating this situation / kicking out our best player.

i think skocic's reasoning is that he has a chance to show discipline and cement his grip on the team during two relatively low-risk games. plus he has some good backup options on the bench. hugely risky by him though from a personal career standpoint.

in the end, i think mehdi is very foolish for the way he went about this. zero upside and seems like more of an ego play. he doesn't come across as a guy with a lot of common sense or sophistication. historically most of our successful legionnaires have been classy/sophisticated guys (kia, ajb, hashemian, daei). mehdi is having mahdavikia-level success but still operating with a payam sadeghian-level/IPL/hashiyeh mindset.

[Ab-Gosht]

i've been going back and forth on this. The question I have is, has IFF/Skocic made an official statement on the exclusion? I haven't seen it anywhere. It would be foolish to not address the situation because then you let Iranian journalists take over the narrative and no one wants that. For example in the NBA, it's very cut and dry. A player misses practice or does "conduct detrimental to the team", the coach or team makes a simple 1-2 sentence statement, fines or suspends them, then we move on. But to not say ANYTHING or address it...invites interpretation, gossip, and drama. WHy hasn't IFF or skocic addressed this, letting it fester?

big balls by skocic. if he was the selfish dallal some of you claim he is, he'd never put his own career prospects at risk like this. there was enough ambiguity in mehdi's passive aggressive tweet for him to look the other way without looking soft. he could have kept mehdi on the roster and guaranteed his path to the WC...total career changer and cements him as a NT head coach in Asia for the rest of his career. Instead he stuck to principle in a very high cost way. If we lose points the next couple games he is in major trouble. overall it seems the TM fanbase it torn on this issue but i can guarantee you that if TM drops points, we'll quickly forget the pro-skocic arguments and blame him for not better navigating this situation / kicking out our best player.

i think skocic's reasoning is that he has a chance to show discipline and cement his grip on the team during two relatively low-risk games. plus he has some good backup options on the bench. hugely risky by him though from a personal career standpoint.

in the end, i think mehdi is very foolish for the way he went about this. zero upside and seems like more of an ego play. he doesn't come across as a guy with a lot of common sense or sophistication. historically most of our successful legionnaires have been classy/sophisticated guys (kia, ajb, hashemian, daei). mehdi is having mahdavikia-level success but still operating with a payam sadeghian-level/IPL/hashiyeh mindset.

Skocic has not made any comments. Its because its very silly if u would actuall say mehdi didnt answer my phone calls so i cut him. its all embarrasing

[Keano]

i've been going back and forth on this. The question I have is, has IFF/Skocic made an official statement on the exclusion? I haven't seen it anywhere. It would be foolish to not address the situation because then you let Iranian journalists take over the narrative and no one wants that. For example in the NBA, it's very cut and dry. A player misses practice or does "conduct detrimental to the team", the coach or team makes a simple 1-2 sentence statement, fines or suspends them, then we move on. But to not say ANYTHING or address it...invites interpretation, gossip, and drama. WHy hasn't IFF or skocic addressed this, letting it fester?

big balls by skocic. if he was the selfish dallal some of you claim he is, he'd never put his own career prospects at risk like this. there was enough ambiguity in mehdi's passive aggressive tweet for him to look the other way without looking soft. he could have kept mehdi on the roster and guaranteed his path to the WC...total career changer and cements him as a NT head coach in Asia for the rest of his career. Instead he stuck to principle in a very high cost way. If we lose points the next couple games he is in major trouble. overall it seems the TM fanbase it torn on this issue but i can guarantee you that if TM drops points, we'll quickly forget the pro-skocic arguments and blame him for not better navigating this situation / kicking out our best player.

i think skocic's reasoning is that he has a chance to show discipline and cement his grip on the team during two relatively low-risk games. plus he has some good backup options on the bench. hugely risky by him though from a personal career standpoint.

in the end, i think mehdi is very foolish for the way he went about this. zero upside and seems like more of an ego play. he doesn't come across as a guy with a lot of common sense or sophistication. historically most of our successful legionnaires have been classy/sophisticated guys (kia, ajb, hashemian, daei). mehdi is having mahdavikia-level success but still operating with a payam sadeghian-level/IPL/hashiyeh mindset.

Very well said!

[Doctor DOOM]

Not at all, I have my view and it is one I stand by. We have a tendency to throw our players under the bus for small mistakes, the same happened when Azmoun left the national team after World Cup and if I looked back there will be previous examples too.
Did the guy make a mistake , yes. He should have made his feelings known in a more professional manner. It does not deserve the level of distaste that some, including yourself, are giving here. Let’s move on and hope that it dealt with professionally behind the scenes so that we can have a successful qualifying campaign.

You are very correct.
Is he human and like all of us, fallible and prone to mistakes? Absolutely.
The reason for ppl STILL talking about this and with each passing day raising their criticism from the day he made the mistake is THAT HE NEVER TOOK ANY STEPS TO RECTIFY HIS MISTAKE.


I'm sure you'll agree if you or I made a mistake, and if our mistake has such repercussions (of throwing TM into turmoil and injecting undue, unwanted and totally avoidable stress at the most crucial period), we would do all we could to rectify this and somehow smooth things over ... and as I keep repeating, EVEN RESORT TO LIES in order to calm things down.

This mounting criticism is not so much for his immature, foolish, unprofessional comments .... it is for his obstinacy, selfishness and egotistic behavior to clear things!

He had enough time to rethink things over, and even if he believes Skocic is undeserving of TM coaching, at least FOR THE SAKE OF IRAN & TM, he should have taken steps to clarify and make amends.
Personally, for me, it is THIS adamant egotistical behavior that has irritated and angered me. Not his idiotic comment as much. And I'm sure you and a lot of his fans also will agree with this

[Ali.Karimi79]

Who needs Taremi?

Go and watch Iran vs Japan in AC2019 again.. then you will see how we had no offensive threat whatsoever without Taremi‘s positioning, physical presence and ability to hold the ball, as he was suspended.

That was a really disrespectful and non-sense comment, to ask whether one of the best asian strikers at the moment is needed or not..

You bring one game as your argument...really?! Right here, right now, we have quality forwards.
The only disrespectful thing came from Taremi himself.
Also, if we can't beat the likes of Syria and Libanon without Taremi we are doomed.
Respect and discipline comes first no matter how good one player is. You can't act like this as a national team player.
Taremi has got a record with his behaviour and caused sensle-less trouble and hashyie for our campaign right before crucial games.

[Allya]

Great job TM management for excluding Mehdi (I’m a big fan but you’re not bigger than TM). Bazikon salary must be eliminated from TM once and for all as no player is bigger than the team and respect for management must be there for any organization to succeed period. Hope he’ll learn his lesson. There’s always a new player and no one is Irreplaceable. Thank you Mr. Skocic and Mr. Bagheri for your hard work and swift decision making.