Pep Guardiola said Manchester City are in a "fragile" period after a 4-0 drubbing at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday condemned them to a third Premier League defeat in a row and five points off the title race.
City had early chances to break the deadlock but came up against an inspired Guglielmo Vicario in goal for the visitors, while Spurs were ruthless.
James Maddison, celebrating his 28th birthday, turned in a man-of-the-match performance with two first-half strikes with Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson adding the extras in the second period.
It was City's fifth straight defeat across competitions and brought to a halt a 52-match unbeaten home record for Guardiola's side.
League leaders Liverpool can inflict more misery on Sunday when they travel to face basement club Southampton, with City facing a daunting trip to Anfield next Sunday.
If Liverpool beat Southampton and City, they will be 11 points ahead of Guardiola's men.
Former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss Guardiola only this week signed a two-year contract extension until 2027.
But hopes that would bring the positivity needed to turn City's fortunes around proved short-lived.
"In eight years we have never lived this kind of situation," said Guardiola, whose side face Feyenoord in the Uefa Champions League on Tuesday.
"Now we have to live it and break it winning the next games, especially the next one. Now we see things in one way, maybe in a few weeks we see it differently."
The loss of Rodri to a season's ending knee injury has been a hammer blow to City's title defence and the Spaniard's absence on the pitch was keenly felt at the Etihad Stadium.
The Ballon d'Or winner could only watch on in horror as City were exposed by the pace and energy of Pape Matar Sarr and Maddison in midfield.
Maddison opened the scoring with Spurs' first attack, ghosting beyond Ilkay Gundogan with a surging run into the City box to slot home Dejan Kulusevski's inviting cross.
Maddison was celebrating again on 20 minutes when he exchanged passed with Spurs captain Son Heung-min and dinked a delightful finish over the advancing Ederson to make it 2-0.
A Spurs counterattack on 52 minutes saw Kulusevski release Dominic Solanke before the England striker cut the ball back for Porro to smash home in the right corner.
Timo Werner then teed up fellow substitute Johnson to slide in Tottenham's fourth goal to put the icing on a clinical performance for the North London club.
It was a chastening experience for Guardiola's side, who have rewritten the record books of English football in recent years by winning four consecutive Premier League titles.
But he recognised that they are stuck in a negative mental spiral after a series of unexpected defeats.
"We are a bit fragile right now, that is obvious for the fact that we struggled today to score goals. And after when they arrived, they scored," he added.
"We are playing a little bit in our thoughts, with a little bit of negativity, but it's normal. Football is a sense of mood. And when you win a lot, there's continuity that gives us self-confidence that you can do it.
"When you lose three games in a row in the Premier League, that situation is always a little bit there."
City defender Kyle Walker said it was vital the team went "back to the basics and got a clean sheet".
He added: "If we concede four goals at home we have to score five. It's not just the back four, five or six – it's all 11 players on the pitch."
Postecoglou challenges players
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou challenged his players to maintain the standards set in Saturday’s stunning win at City having doubled down on their football principles in style.
Spurs went into the international break on the back of a chastening 2-1 home loss to promoted Ipswich Town but returned from it with a jaw-dropping 4-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium.
“You don’t come to a place like this thinking that it’s going to be probably as convincing as it was for us in terms of the way we handled [things],” Postecoglou said.
“Look, I’ve said before, City test you in every football way possible. You’ve got to do a bit of everything – you’ve got to defend, you’ve got to work hard, you’ve got to be disciplined, then you’ve got to play football.
“I thought all four areas we got to a really strong level today, where the players were just really determined to make sure that after obviously a disappointing game last game we just got back to our core beliefs as a team.
“Credit to the lads. I thought they were outstanding today because we knew first 10 minutes they’d come out firing.
“Obviously, the four losses they’d had were away from home, so being at home there’d be an energy in the stadium.
“We were going to have to sort of weather the storm, which I thought we did fairly well, and then we just grew into the game.
“Just so pleased for the players in the belief they have in trying to play the way we want to, and then you get a reward like that. I think it just hopefully furthers our progression.”
If you go
Flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
The stay
Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
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.”
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
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