MANCHESTER // There are moments that serve as a microcosm of an entire club, that sum up a season. As Manchester City cemented their grip on second place and left Chelsea in danger of dropping out of the top four, there were incidents to illustrate much about either club.
Take Frank Lampard's missed penalty. At a club with a pronounced ability to press the self-destruct button, even the epitome of reliability was found wanting.
Joe Hart dived to his right, pushing the spot kick away. There is no double century of Chelsea goals for Lampard; not yet anyway. The Londoners still have little to celebrate in a sorry season.
And it was further evidence that nothing comes simple for Chelsea.
Everything is controversial. Had Lampard scored, the calls for a new contract would have become deafening. Instead, he missed and defeat beckoned.
That, in part, was thanks to Yaya Toure.
"Yaya can play in every position," said Roberto Mancini, the City manager.
Here he was a roaming raider, with licence to support the attack.
Insipid and ineffective when City's title hopes ended at Southampton 15 days earlier, he, like their other main players, has produced a response.
A side without the firepower and the fluency of last season are now intent on displaying their mettle. They did so in last week's 4-0 win over Leeds United in the FA Cup and again on Sunday.
Toure has long had a deserved billing as the man for the big occasion and, after 60 minutes of stalemate, he produced.
There was the power to go past John Obi Mikel, the precision and deftness to curl a shot around Gary Cahill and into the net.
Coupled with Carlos Tevez's thunderous second, it brought both respite and a reminder that City are not in meltdown.
Their three previous league games had only yielded two points. They have never gone four matches without a win under Mancini. They still have not as his name rang around the Etihad Stadium.
Indeed, two Italian managers' names did. The 16th minute brought the Chelsea supporters' usual tribute to the sacked Roberto Di Matteo. The best the unfortunate Rafael Benitez can hope for is that he is ignored, which tends to be the case in away games.
Feted and hated by their respective fan bases, these are nevertheless managers with much in common.
They are two of the few to have traded words with Sir Alex Ferguson and two inextricably linked with Jose Mourinho, Mancini's successor and Benitez's predecessor at Inter Milan.
By nature, though not nationality in Benitez's case, both are Italian-style managers. Football is an obsession, tactical tinkering comes as second nature. It would be harder to stand back and let events unfold organically.
It is a game of chess, looking to manoeuvre the pieces around to their own advantage. In Chelsea's case, that entailed shifting them sideways, rather than advancing.
They were too defensive, Benitez stifling his flair players. "I was still bringing on players like [Victor] Moses and Oscar, two offensive players," argued the Spaniard. But in doing so, he removed Lampard and Eden Hazard, the only men to register shots on target.
Mancini had sacrificed a striker, in starting with Tevez on the bench, yet his game plan was attacking enough. Others supported the sole striker Sergio Aguero. Matija Nastasic and Jack Rodwell posed a threat at set pieces. David Silva and Toure roamed intelligently in open play.
Chances were fashioned but none were taken until Lampard spurned the opportunity to join Bobby Tambling in Chelsea's 200 club and left Benitez wondering if Hart, who had brought down Demba Ba, should have stayed on the pitch. "At least a yellow card," he said. Instead, the goalkeeper went unpunished and got up to save Lampard's spot kick.
Then Toure, with placement, and Tevez, with power, delivered the goals. "We deserved to win because we played very well," said Mancini, whose side now have a seven-point cushion over Chelsea.
"It will be a fight until the end of the season," Benitez said. "Hopefully if they lose some points we can be closer."
Yet, as he realises himself, Chelsea are far nearer Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. Rather than challenging for second, they risk slipping out of the top four.
After playing in the Europa League on Thursday, they may be competing in it again next season.
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Two-step truce
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National.
The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.
The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.
The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
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.”
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Vikram%20Vedha
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What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
