1.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 08:09:02
I must say, I was a little disappointed to see Elliott’s messages.
It may be thought classy by some and everyone can have an opinion, including Elliott himself of course.
But the only opinion that matters is the referee’s.
There’s far too much back chat, swearing and what not by players at the top level towards the refs, and we see how this manifests itself in some of the horrible assaults on referees at grass roots level. I do think that one begats the other in this case.
Perhaps the classy thing for Elliott to do is let the referee do his job, accept the decision, and start having some respect for what is an almost impossible job.
Football is extremely tribal, we get that and that is one of its attractions, but it can take a leaf out of Rugby Union’s book where refs are addressed as ‘sir’, and the slightest amount of back chat is penalised on-field.

2.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 08:16:01
He's a kid mate.

3.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 08:30:44
Easily disappointed Juice.

4.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 09:04:43
Sure, I get that pp, and I’m certain that Elliott meant no harm to anyone.
But he did, maybe unwittingly, throw the ref under a bus there.
He could have spoken or messaged to the Leeds player privately, and you’d hope that the Leeds lad would go to see him in hospital too?
But it’s not Elliott’s job to referee a game, let’s see if he wants to be so magnanimous if he gets a contentious last minute penalty that wins Liverpool a game?

5.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 09:14:53
Well here’s the thing. Vitriol, rightly or wrongly, will always go somewhere with football fans.

Let’s take VVD injury for instance. Pickford recklessly launched himself at VVD but clearly didn’t mean to crock him. Both players got on with it but Pickford has been lambasted from all sides. Even threatened on social media by some fans.

Struijk arguably does much the same. I still think his trailing leg was reckless even if there was no intent there. Harvey has come out and defended him and I haven’t seen him get anywhere near the amount of hate Pickford got. Even though Harvey is one of the brightest young stars in the club and had just broken through into the first team.

I don’t think incidents like this are where you bring abuse at referees in. I think Harvey is looking at it from the perspective that I could have made that tackle.

For me that’s incidents like the Chelsea game recently. The referee could have just red carded three or four of them. That sends a message.

A player gets in their face or shouts at them. Red card. That sends a message.

Abuse of referees, at least within the professional leagues, could stop within weeks if they genuinely wanted to. They simply don’t have the will power to do it. You can’t rely on the players to do it as they won’t. So make them. That’s why grass roots refs get so much abuse (1) they see professionals doing it and (2) the powers that be do nothing about it. Deal with the second and the first sorts itself out.

6.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 09:23:28
Personally i think Elliott is just trying to protect Strujik mentally. Injuring a player like that can be as hard to cone back from as the injury itself if you are a good person and didn't mean it. Guilt can destroy a man.

Elliott is wise and kind beyond his years. Very strange post from Juicer in my opinion. Comes across as "anything for a dig at a Liverpool player".

7.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 09:55:06
Elliott has shown his class over the course of his embryonic Liverpool career and especially over the last couple of days, I'm not one ounce disappointed with him at all, Simon Jordan has had his say and I'm comfortable not agreeing with him.

8.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 09:55:27
With ya there MK.

9.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 10:11:23
He’s letting Struijk know that there’s no ill feeling between them and that he understands it was an accident that can happen in football. Can we please allow footballers to be humans again and treat them as such.

10.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 10:21:52
I think this is been looked into way too much.

11.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 10:31:56
The way most players treat or react around referees on the pitch hardly shows any respect. Not sure why we are worried about a social media post where it looks like a player disagrees with a decision.
Getting told to F off ref 50 times a game because your decision goes against players is probably a bigger issue.

12.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 10:47:50
My post wasn’t intended to be construed in that manner MKS.
Maybe if Elliott had said something along the lines of ‘I’m sure that the tackle was not malicious and I bear no ill feelings towards Struijk’ and left it at that?
It feels like he has mugged the ref off and put a target for abuse on his back now though?

13.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 11:03:39
I get what Juicer is saying and I think it may have been taken out of context slightly in my opinion. I think Elliots initial posts were fine, were he said there was no intent etc, but he has effectively called out the ref publicly when in fact, the ref made the right choice by the letter of the law.
I have also noticed Elliot responds to fans on Social media, usually United fans giving him grief, which is great and actually quite funny, but at what point does that become an issue and he crosses the line? Social media is an extremely powerful tool, just look at Elon Musk, he can instantly devalue a company with a single tweet.

If a player stated the ref was wrong in a post match interview, they could be penalised for bringing the game into disrepute, where is the line drawn.

14.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 11:08:00
Im just trying to underatand why you're so triggered by his opinion, which he can have irrespective of the ref.

15.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 11:18:07
He is just an 18 year old kid mate who felt bad for Struijk and didn’t want him getting any backlash.

16.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 11:37:52
Agree Salah, over thinking stuff is the norm these days mate.

17.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 12:01:13
I thought it was great to come out and say that, certainly for Struijk that’s for sure.
I don’t think many are having a go at the ref, if it wasn’t for what happened to Elliot he didn’t look like he was going to blow for a foul anyway let alone give a red card.
Too many times players have been vilified for challenges that have unfortunately ended up injuring someone badly. Ryan Shawcross miss times a tackle against Ramsey and both Arsenal fans, the club and Ramsey made Shawcross out to be some sort of monster.

18.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 12:09:42
Juicer, Rugby Union players addressing the referee as ‘Sir’ died out shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire.

19.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 13:37:42
Storm in a tea cup this.

Elliot is trying to show support for a player who injured him badly and being a kid has got a bit carried away.

He will be reminded by the media team and hendo on the what's and what nots. he's a smart boy and will take it on board.

Ref won't be one bit bothered as appeal tribunal has backed his decision up.

On a side note (not including the tackle on harvey as its still a 50/ 50 thing for most) imo the standard of reffing in the premier league is extremely poor. Decisions have no rhyme or reason from one to the next. Criticism makes us all better if we are big enough to look past the wording and analyise why its there. It seems that a lot of refs in the premier league let arrogance get in the way of growth. I have no problem with their mistakes being hilighted if they are indeed bad mistakes.

Refs in the premier league are very robotic and need to be better educated to think for themselves and how to get control of games and players getting out of hand. Compare them to foreign refs. Its night and day standard wise.

20.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 13:45:31
Fair enough Juicer. Apologies if i've misread your intentions.

21.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 12:54:27
Think people are over analysing this a lil too much.

22.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 13:10:57
My only concern in this is how quickly does Elliot recover and I pray he gets back to his best. The rest of it he said, she said who gives a.

23.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 14:02:13
Did Robbie Fowler disappoint you when hey wave off the pen decision at Highbury all those years ago?

24.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 14:13:28
Unfortunately so wdw. It's happening all too often mare.

Even if he was mugging the ref off, can you blame him? I can't because they're to be quite Frank absolutely useless! Good on him if that's the case but it isn't. He's a good young lad who is trying to get somewhere and has hit a hurdle. Now is not the time to be judgemental on the young one, leave him be, let him recover and we'll see him thrive I have no doubt.

25.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 14:42:14
I’m absolutely fine with everything Elliot has done- class act and maturity beyond his years (let’s hope it stays that way) . To the point on Simon Jordan above - I’ve not heard what he’s said about Elliot - but in general I think he speaks a lot of sense. I don’t always agree but he gets it right more than most.

26.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 14:57:23
That's all well and good Salah and I do agree about your point of over analysing, but it is easy to sit there and lambaste refs as useless from your arm chair. Have you ever reffed a game? It is a difficult job and there is a massive shortage of referees in the UK game, both professional and at grass roots. A lot of it is down to people not wanting to do it due to the sheer abuse they get, both mental and verbally. We should be encouraging the PGMOL and the FA to do more to improve training and standards, or you can pick up the whistle yourself if it's so easy.

27.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 15:03:42
Elliot was correct and magnanimous to say what he said. But everyone is missing the point. The referee made a mistake, which everyone can do, but it’s the clowns hearing the appeal, who couldn’t bring themselves to admit that the referee made an honest mistake and overturn the decision who are the problem. VAR are the same, they all back the referee come what may, and that undermines the referees credibilty a lot more than any player just telling it how it is.

28.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 22:17:32
@Markp08 - when you say you hope Elliot gets back to his best, you do realise that even he is only 18 and nowhere near the fully developed player he is going to be? Even if he starts playing again before Christmas, his best isn’t likely to be for another 3 or 4 years?

29.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 22:29:46
I wondered if he was also doing it as a reverse psychology thing on Struijk, as will he think twice about going in hard on Harvey in future, after he stood up for him?

30.) 16 Sep 2021
16 Sep 2021 22:37:17
Ye have surely seen plenty of The Juicer's posts, hasn't been going around slating our own players for the sake of it.

I don't agree with the opinion shared but it is just an opinion and it is understandable as referees do get ridiculous abuse.