Ole Gunnar Solskjær absent! Ole Gunnar Solskjær in!

How many times have we heard these words in the past year or more? Manchester United fans have flip-flopped on the Norwegian manager so many times now that at this point it’s hard to keep up.

Despite the 3-0 away win over Tottenham, Solskjær is still under immense pressure in the aftermath of the 5-0 massacre against Liverpool at Old Trafford.

Antonio Conte and Brendan Rogers have been linked to replacing Solskjær since that humiliating defeat, and while Tottenham’s victory gave him respite from the deluge of criticism that befell him, it appears to be just one matter of time before the beleaguered coach is given his P45.

The situation only gets worse when you look at the money United spent while Solskjær was at the club.

In data shared on Reddit, it emerged that United had the highest net spend of any club in England’s top flight, with a record £ 312million since Solskjær took over. Liverpool, on the other hand, emerge with the lowest net spending record, making a small profit of £ 3.6million in the same period.

And meanwhile, Liverpool have won the Champions League and the Premier League, under the astute leadership of Jürgen Klopp. Meanwhile, United haven’t come close to either of the trophies. In fact, their best chance of making money under Solskjær was in the Europa League final last season, but they lost to Villarreal on penalties.

The numbers are overwhelming for all remaining Solskjær fans. Liverpool and Klopp are essentially doing more with less, winning trophies while cutting costs. The FSG model is drawing a lot of anger from fans, but no one can deny that the results have been impressive.

Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired at the end of the 2012/13 season, United have become synonymous with financial mismanagement. Almost a billion pounds has been spent in eight years by various managers, and they never looked likely to win another league title or make a good impression in Europe.

United can also no longer hold a high moral standing over their heavy-spending neighbors, Man City, who have net spending of around £ 110million less over the same period. The framing does Liverpool a favor, in that it just lacks big expenses for Fabinho, Alisson and Naby Keïta, but again, it does not take into account the sale of Philippe Coutinho.

It all goes to show how Klopp and FSG have done a fantastic job of making Liverpool such a performing force over the past few seasons, while also maintaining financial balance.

For the sake of fairness, it should also be noted that Liverpool have the second highest payroll in the league, behind City. The FSG don’t tend to spend money on transfer fees, but when it comes to salaries, Liverpool are ahead of United.

Jadon Sancho is a good example to highlight United’s erratic transfer activity. United pursued the England winger for at least two years while at Borussia Dortmund, with the ‘Sancho to United’ saga appearing to drag on.

Last summer Sancho finally signed on the dotted line, with United handing over an estimated figure of around £ 75million. Sancho barely kicked a ball for United, appearing just seven times. He has only started three Premier League games and his impact has been almost nonexistent.

Liverpool’s top three Mohamed Salah, Sadio Manè and Roberto Firmino cost the club around £ 97million combined. Or, in united terms, a Paul Pogba.

Yet it must also be said that the trio have benefited immensely from playing under one of the best coaches of the modern era at Klopp, while United have always hired the wrong coach since Ferguson left. One FSG decision that can never be questioned is the decision to hire Klopp.

The two clubs, both under US ownership, have been run in very different ways. Liverpool do more with less; United don’t get anything with more, much more.

Eventually United will succeed, all they have to do is take a look at their biggest rivals for inspiration.