Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald will come up against the Saints.
Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald will come up against the Saints.

UAE

Cards ready for shoot-out

New Orleans opened the season 13-0 despite a poor defence, but will they hold up against Arizona's set of wide receivers, led by the explosive Larry Fitzgerald.

Ron Borges

January 16, 2010

You could not blame the Arizona Cardinals if they were desperate to get at the New Orleans Saints defence in today's NFC divisional play-off game after ringing up 51 points on the Green Bay Packers while eliminating them from the play-offs last weekend. Then again, the same could be said for the Saints as they are up against a Cardinals' defence that allowed 45 points in the same game.

One thing seems certain. Regardless of who wins at the Louisiana Superdome, this game will not be a defensive struggle. The defending NFC champion Cardinals twice gave up 500 yards this season and allowed Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers to pass for 403 yards last weekend while the Saints' defence finished 25th in a 32-team league in total defense and 20th in points allowed, giving up 21.3 a game. If you want to see defense, don't watch this game.

One has to wonder just how New Orleans opened the season 13-0 with such a defence, but the larger question down on the bayou is whether or not they can hold up against Arizona's set of wide receivers led by the explosive Larry Fitzgerald. This is a particularly worrisome scenario because the Saints enter their first play-off game this season on a three-game losing streak. New Orleans were one of the hottest teams in the NFL until their undefeated streak ended after 13 wins. Since then their once-potent offence has grown quiet while their defence has not stepped up to fill the breach. This is a concern for New Orleans because they had the league's No 1 ranked offence for three of the past four years but won only one play-off game and never got close to the Super Bowl.

What the Saints do have is the support of a city still trying to recover from Hurricance Katrina's devastation. As a form of release from their worries, the community has rallied around the Saints, turning the Superdome into a deafening place for opponents. If there's anyone who should be able to handle that it's Arizona's 38-year-old quarterback Kurt Warner. Warner played much of his career in St Louis and has led three teams to the Super Bowl, including the Cardinals last year. Rumours surfaced this week that he will retire at the end of the season - he would like nothing better than to go out by taking the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl title, as he did with the Rams in 1999.

"Everyone thinks this is going to be an offensive shoot-out,'' said Saints' quarterback Drew Brees. Brees is one of the game's elite quarterbacks, a passer who is deadly accurate but can also throw the deep ball when someone like Pro Bowl receiver Marques Colston gets behind the defence. In addition, New Orleans have a power running game and the multifaceted Reggie Bush, who is a dangerous receiver and return man as well as the kind of back who can score at any moment.

Warner feels the same way about the Cardinals' weapons. Last week against Green Bay, he managed to throw more touchdown passes (five) than incompletions (four), a remarkable day that was needed because his defence could not stop an apple from rolling off a table. If that's the case in New Orleans, the Saints will be ready to go marching in to the NFC Championship Game. Unless, of course, the Cardinals out score them. @Email:sports@thenational.ae New Orleans v Arizona, 1.30am Sunday, Showsports 4

Also read: Ravens look to silence Manning

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.”

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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