Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Julen Lopetegui was left furious after he felt two key decisions went against his team in the 2-2 FA Cup third-round draw at Liverpool on Saturday.
Goncalo Guedes had given Wolves the lead in the 26th minute after intercepting a poor pass from Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, before Darwin Nunez pulled the hosts level with a superb volley just before the break.
Mohamed Salah then gave Liverpool the lead seven minutes after the interval when he capitalised on defender Toti's failed headed clearance, but even though the Egyptian was in an offside position when the initial pass was played, the goal stood.
Hwang Hee-Chan levelled for Wolves 14 minutes later, and the visitors thought they had taken a late lead when Toti scored from a back-heel, but the assistant referee had his flag up for offside against Matheus Nunes.
Consulting the video assistant referee, VAR had no camera angle available to potentially overturn the original offside decision, ruling Toti's goal out and leaving Wolves to settle for a draw and a replay.
"We’ve seen it and it wasn’t offside. Sorry. It’s impossible," Lopetegui said, referring to Toti's disallowed goal. "We have seen it, but someone told him that it’s offside, because we have seen the image and it doesn’t exist.
"Our player, Matheus Nunes, is not offside. It’s very clear. [Trent] Alexander-Arnold is on the left and is breaking the line. We have tried to explain this to the referee.
“The decision is not unfair, the decision is wrong. I make big mistakes every day but today we have the help of VAR and it was a pity because we saw the image and, sorry, but it’s not offside."
Liverpool v Wolves player ratings
Lopetegui was also frustrated by the decision to allow Salah's goal to stand, saying: "The second goal of Liverpool is the same. We have talked a lot with referees about this kind of situation and one player, one touch of his position, Salah was offside with the first touch before Toti touched the ball, so he took advantage of his position.
"The rule is, if you take advantage of one position despite the ball coming off an opponent, this is offside. This is my interpretation of the rule and the rule is the same for all of the countries. Despite my player touching the ball, he is in an offside position."
Despite his unhappiness with the decisions, Lopetegui said he was delighted with the performance of his team and believes Wolves can build on it to turn around their Premier League campaign. Wolves are currently 19th in the table, one point from safety.
“For me, the most important thing about tonight is how we should be proud of our players," the Spaniard said. "They showed themselves that they can play against any team. Liverpool is one of the best teams in the world, with the best squad and the best coach, so for us it was a very important test.
“This is only one step. The real situation is that we’re in a bad position in the league and this is the most important thing. We have to change it and we have three matches where we have to be ready a lot, and ready to arrive in the last match, in the last minute, to achieve what we want. We have to be strong in our mind, believe in ourselves and work very hard for each match."
After facing Nottingham Forest in the League Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday, Wolves are back in Premier League action with a crucial home game against fellow strugglers West Ham on Saturday.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
