Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hints at early retirement

London, Sep 23: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has suggested he has no plan of managing till 70's and he will prefer playing golf then rather than putting pressure on his head then.

The high-flying Manchester Club will face Crystal Palace who is yet to win a single match this season in this weekend.

The Eagles have recently sacked their former Manager Frank De Boer just after four games and immediately appointed Roy Hodgson to that post.

The 70-year-old manager took charge of the club against Southampton but lost the match 1-0. However, in the midweek they registered their first win of the season when they beat Premier league outfit Huddersfield town by 1-0.

Hodgson is currently the senior most manager in the Premier League and ahead of the match while talking about Pep's future plan to continue until such age the Spaniard suggested he respects the English manager a lot but has no intention of emulating the Englishman’s longevity.

“Definitely not, I promise you. I love golf!” the Spaniard said when asked about the possibility of coaching on into his 70s.

“But I admire (Hodgson). He’s had a long career and I respect that. I respect Gareth Barry for playing 600 games in the Premier League, I congratulate him. That is amazing, I love that.

“I love the people who stay there for a long time. They have ups and downs, success and not success, and they keep going because of their passion.

“I admire him at 70 to have the energy to put in front of the players, to prepare for the games, have the adrenaline to know what’s going to happen.

“He’s been with England, Switzerland… For a long time he was the England team’s national coach, so that’s good.”

Pep Guardiola also opined that he has "a lot of respect" for Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace ahead of the two sides' encounter at the Etihad on Saturday and claimed he has already warned his players of the dangers of complacency who are still unbeaten in the league and currently at the top of the table.

He added: "It's the Premier League and every single team can beat any of the others - that's the best expression I've learned since I’ve been here.

“And I saw that in their last two games against Southampton and Burnley they created a lot of chances. I've shown the players those chances. They didn't score but they have quality.

“They are going to play long balls to [Christian] Benteke - quite similar to how West Brom played against us in midweek. They deserved two or three goals. It depends if we can control it.

“We'd love to go into that last game before the international break with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge with three points. It depends on us - if we keep our level we'll win the game.”