Manchester United 2 Fulham 2
Manchester United Van Persie 78', Carrick 80'
Fulham Sidwell 19', Bent 90+4'
Man of the match Dan Burn (Fulham)
Manchester // Late goals are famously part of the fabric of Manchester United.
The latest provided further indication that the Premier League champions are coming unstitched.
The year is not yet six weeks old, but for the second time, Old Trafford fans exited with the majority bemoaning a last-gasp addition to the scoring.
Darren Bent’s 94th-minute leveller was not quite as decisive as Wilfried Bony’s FA Cup winner for Swansea City a month earlier, but it added to the pattern of decline, decay and dismay.
More and more, the final act leaves the majority at the Theatre of Dreams disappointed.
Yesterday, it came when it appeared United had fashioned a happy ending, coming from 1-0 down to lead thanks to goals from Robin van Persie and Michael Carrick.
Then came the dramatic twist.
Steve Sidwell fed the former United winger Kieran Richardson, whose shot was parried limply by David de Gea.
The substitute Bent bounced, giving Fulham renewed hope in their relegation battle and manager Rene Meulensteen a reward for a left-field team selection on his return to Old Trafford.
So, in a tale of United past and present, David Moyes was left looking the more beleaguered.
His side dropped a further two points. They are nine adrift of Liverpool, the occupants of fourth place. It already seems the best they can hope for is fifth. Sights are being lowered, ambitions downgraded, even if few feel able to admit it. Languishing in seventh, Moyes accepted he never expected his debut year at Old Trafford to be this bad.
“Probably not, no,” he said. “Today was as bad as it gets.”
On paper, this was the easiest game of the campaign: at home to the side propping up the Premier League and who have a dreadful defensive record. United nevertheless made heavy weather of it.
They trailed when Lewis Holtby wandered free in midfield and chipped a pass forward.
Sidwell sprinted into the box, stretched and volleyed it past De Gea.
It was typical of the midfielder, stand-in captain and top scorer, who has flourished this season. Over the course of the campaign, too few others have. On the day, Fulham rallied.
Meulensteen left out Brede Hangeland and Scott Parker, traditionally the rocks of the defence and midfield, but the unlikely lads performed with unexpected unity, especially considering five had not started a league game for the club before this month. The most inexperienced, the 18-year-old Swedish midfielder Muamer Tankovic, led a counter-attack that should have resulted in Richardson doubling Fulham’s lead.
The giant Dan Burn headed away cross after cross – and as United, eschewing any other approach, delivered 81 of them, he was kept busy – and goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg made a series of saves.
The best, when he tipped a Wayne Rooney shot over the bar, was outstanding.
And United kept the Fulham defence occupied.
“I don’t know if we could have done an awful lot more,” Moyes said. “We completely dominated the game. We were in their box probably 150 times.”
Van Persie mounted an assault on the Fulham goal, volleying wide, having a shot saved and claiming a penalty.
Eventually, and not surprisingly, he finally struck, tapping in Juan Mata’s cross-shot.
Two minutes later, the turnaround was complete, with Carrick’s shot taking a sizeable deflection off Parker.
That, it seemed, was that.
“It was a game we should have easily seen out,” Moyes said.
Instead, Nemanja Vidic misplaced a simple header, Richardson shot and Bent scored.
“You could use maybe mental softness that we didn’t see the job out and get the job done,” Moyes said. “I would agree with that.”
They head to Arsenal on Wednesday, going from the division’s bottom side to the one who, until Saturday, were top.
“We’ve got a good team and there will be very few teams desperate to play Manchester United,” Moyes said.
Perhaps not, but, as Fulham showed, there are very few who fear them, either.
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
if you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals (more at www.hertz.com/etihad). A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com
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.”
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
