Stoke Strikes Gold in Derby Clash, Red Devils Ascend To Crown!

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MARCH 10: Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, looks on during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 First Leg match between Galatasaray SK and Liverpool FC at Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi on March 10, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Ahmad Mora/Getty Images) | Getty Images As a sports fan growing up in Los Angeles, I thought I knew a thing or to about fan bases with lofty expectations. I was, after all, living in the land of the Lakers, where the sports radio – powered in part by what I felt were unrealistic expectations by the callers – was so toxic, that I basically swore off most commentary programs.

I guess we should cue up that Taylor Swift diddy and indicate that, yes, it’s me, I am the problem. But even without the experience of growing up with the expectations of Lakers titles within some lean years – a caveat being that the Lakers should have been able to make more out of those Nick Van Exel teams – there’s enough to look at around the US-ian sports landscape to point to fan bases that expect success year on year: the Yankees, the Celtics, the Warriors, the Patriots, and for a time, the Niners. Dynastic teams that were successful enough during times I was paying attention that I would see fandoms develop what I felt to be an insistent, almost arrogant expectation of winning the title.

Following a Premier League club, let alone one that is considered among the most historic and successful in the history of the European game, has proven to be an entirely different scenario altogether. You see, when I became a fan of Liverpool, I joined up right when the club decided to name Roy Hodgson as the coach. Yes, I am a Child of the Hodgepocalypse and even though I understood that Liverpool were the second most decorated English side (at the time) and the most successful English side in Euope, I never experienced a Liverpool that could deliver on that.

At least, not until Klopp arrived. This is a long pre-amble to say that, yes, expectations at Liverpool are different than at nearly any other club in the Premier League. And Arne Slot, when asked about it during the pre-match presser , said as much.