Go back three weeks and Manchester City had made an unbeaten start to the Premier League season. They had only lost two of their previous 61 league games. They were red-hot favourites to retain their title. Since then, they have lost three of four matches, slipping seven points behind Liverpool. So what has gone wrong?
Defensive difficulties
City completed August, September and October without conceding a league goal to a midfielder or a forward. Opponents had only had 15 shots on target in nine games. If that level of frugality was unsustainable, City are now in a run of nine matches without a clean sheet in all competitions. It has not helped that John Stones and Aymeric Laporte, who formed such a stylish partnership, have only started as the centre-back duo twice in eight outings, though each has also begun elsewhere. Partly because of injuries, City have lacked continuity as much-changed defences have developed holes. Everton lost 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium but had enough chances to beat City.
Full-back failings
City struggled on either side of the defence in Guardiola's debut season and invested in upgrades in the summer of 2017. If the last two games feel like a regression, there are mitigating circumstances. Kyle Walker has proved a fine signing but endured arguably his worst game in a City shirt against Crystal Palace. He was partly culpable for all three goals, especially the third, when Guardiola said: "We cannot concede this kind of penalty." Benjamin Mendy has been excellent when fit, but is injured again. Midfielder Fabian Delph was a terrific deputy last season but was at fault for Marc Albrighton's Boxing Day equaliser for Leicester City. Delph then collected a red card to mean City will be down to their third-choice left-back – probably Oleksandr Zinchenko – now.
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Mohamed Salah's heartwarming invitation and message to Liverpool fan who went viral
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Clinical and brilliant opponents
It can take something special to beat City. Andros Townsend scored what he felt was the best goal of his career for Palace. Four days later, Leicester’s Ricardo Pereira did arguably the same, with another spectacular strike. Palace scored from each of their three shots on target and Leicester, like Chelsea before them, with two from five. Each scored with their first shot on target, changing the dynamics. Opponents have been clinical on breaks in games when they have had less than 40 per cent share of possession.
Attacking problems
City scored twice against Palace and also hit the woodwork. They scored a wonderful goal at Leicester. But they are not creating the same number of high-quality chances – half of their efforts in those two games came from long range – and are not being potent enough. The previous talismanic Raheem Sterling has only had two shots on target in the last four league games. Gabriel Jesus did not have one against Palace; nor did Sergio Aguero at Leicester. While Jesus did score twice against Everton, perhaps only Leroy Sane of the forwards has been near his best in December. But Guardiola's style of play is also so ambitious that any drop in standards and a finely-tuned engine can break down.
Missing Fernandinho
Guardiola said four weeks ago that City would “kill” Fernandinho if they played him in every game. Injury has meant the Brazilian has missed the last two, and City have lost both. He is their most important player, partly because of the lack of a natural alternative after a mooted move for Fred last January and Jorginho rebuffed City’s advances to join Chelsea in the summer. Stones was an unconvincing deputy against Palace and Ilkay Gundogan, who lacks the Brazilian’s physicality off the ball, took over at Leicester. But he does not protect the defence as well.
Injury issues
Perhaps the irony is that, having coped wonderfully with Kevin de Bruyne’s absence, City’s results have deteriorated as he has returned. Yet it has come at a time when others have been absent. David Silva came off the bench at Leicester, but City started against Palace without the first-choice midfield trio of the Spaniard, Fernandinho and De Bruyne, plus Mendy and Aguero. Even the deepest squad would struggle to cope without five players of that calibre, especially if others are off form.
But some context …
City are only so far behind the leaders because Liverpool are setting a record-breaking pace. “We made an incredible number of points,” Guardiola said and, he is right. City are three points better off than they were at this stage of 2013/14, when they went on to win the title, and they have already played away to the rest of the top five.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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.”
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
