Pep Guardiola's Liverpool comment showed his true colours as Man City change clear

Pep Guardiola is set to take charge of his 1,000th game as a manager when Manchester City take on Liverpool at the Etihad on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola has done it 999 times before over an 18-year career. He has done it 24 times previously against Liverpool alone. But it hasn’t worn him down yet.

The 54-year-old has spent the days since the win against Borussia Dortmund planning for the visit of Arne Slot's team to the Etihad this weekend. Watching footage, speaking with analysts and coaches, devising game plans and then finding ways to pass the information on to his players.

After just one year away from the grind of management since starting with Barcelona B in 2007, it might be seen as more of a hamster wheel now, but Guardiola doesn't give the impression he is wearied.

There were times last season when it looked like the threads were coming apart, but recently he has looked reinvigorated by a new-look City team and the positive signs he is seeing from them.

After the win against Dortmund on Wednesday, he spoke enthusiastically about how the victory against Swansea a week earlier had been vital, and why the body language of his team was telling them they were back. At the very end came a question about Liverpool.

Guardiola answered it with insight about Slot and Jurgen Klopp, how difficult they are to play, and the major changes they have made this season. But it was the final line of his press conference that stood out and made you realise that, even as he gets ready for his 1,000th game as a manager, the buzz of the profession hasn't deserted him.

"To be honest, I'm so excited and happy to live what I'm going to prepare the game on Sunday," he said. "I'm looking forward desperately to play on Sunday again against Liverpool and we'll see what happens."

That comment spoke of an enthusiasm that has carried Guardiola to this milestone, even if there was a sense that he wasn't looking forward to those challenges quite as much a year ago.

The way this team is shaping up has got him relishing the chance to prepare matches as well and even on Wednesday night, barely an hour on from a win, he was already talking of "desperately" wanting to get back to the Etihad to do it again.

At this stage, nobody really knows how much longer Guardiola will go on for. It's something of a miracle that he is 10 years at the club and he is contracted for an 11th, although that won't be taken for granted.

What is clear is that he still loves what he does, he still loves preparing and planning for a game and plotting ways to beat an opponent. While that feeling remains, he could continue even longer still, and right now, the City boss is clearly in a very good place.

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