Pep Guardiola claims he has mellowed in defeat – but insists he is “excited” about Manchester City's title tussle with Liverpool.
The title race was reignited by City's 3-2 defeat at home to Tottenham, which ended Guardiola's side's 15-game winning run in the Premier League.
A fortnight ago, after beating Norwich 4-0 away, City held a 12-point lead, but defeat to Spurs, coupled with Liverpool winning their games in hand, has cut that advantage to three.
Despite that, Guardiola, 51, dismissed the suggestion he was not excited by the title race being back on, but also claimed he found defeats easier to accept now he is older.
“Why should it not be exciting for me?” said Guardiola. “I'm more than delighted to be in this position. Now we have to try to win games. It’s so tough, but we know it.
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“We both know what we have to do. I’ve spoken many times to the players - focus on our job. If it's enough to be champions, then good. If not, then congratulations Liverpool.
“As I get old, I’m learning to enjoy my profession. I accept the defeats in a more natural way.
“I don’t like it, because I don’t sleep well after a defeat, but I accept that the other teams can beat you.
“I’m not so dramatic like 'we're going to lose the Premier League'. What’s the problem? The problem is how you behave and how you are as a team.
“I know what we have to do to beat Liverpool - we have to win a lot of games.
“I didn’t just know that now, I knew it when we were 11 or 12 points ahead and they had two games in hand. I knew it, I felt it.
“I know the opponents and what can happen. Is the title race going to happen like two or three seasons ago? Nobody knows.
“We cannot say what happened in the past will happen in the future. We never know.
“Maybe both teams will start losing games and Chelsea start to win and will come with us.
“The only concern is to prepare well for tomorrow and play a good game. That’s all I’ve been thinking about since Tottenham.”
Guardiola and his players have had a week to reflect on last weekend's shock defeat to Spurs, the first time since October 30 they had tasted defeat in the league.
City travel to relegation-threatened Everton this evening, with Guardiola confident his players will respond to the Spurs loss in the right way.
“The players trained well, a little bit more sad than usual, but that's normal,” said Guardiola. “We will know tomorrow. They have the answer.
“I'm waiting for how we're going to react but I know, from what I saw in the last years, that they're going to perform well.
“I appreciate all of the confidence and generosity to our team, but we are not a side to win all of the games in six years and not lose one single game. It's impossible.
“People believe we are unbeatable and everything is easy - this kind of thing disturbs me a lot, because everything is so difficult.
“When we lose a game, it's like 'welcome to the real world'. People lose games, teams lose games. Look across Europe - all the big clubs lose games.”
