Pep Guardiola accepts the title could be out of reach after his Manchester City side crashed to a 4-0 defeat at Everton.
City were left 10 points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea after capitulating alarmingly in the latter stages at Goodison Park on Sunday.
Guardiola has conceded the league crown in his first year at City could now be beyond him, with the loss his heaviest in domestic football throughout his managerial career.
Asked if the gap to the top was now too great, the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona boss said: "By the first one? Yes. Ten points is a lot of points. The second one is three points. We __have to see.
"I spoke with my players in the last three weeks or more, (and said), 'Forget about the table, focus on the next game and try to do our best to win'.
"After that, at the end of the season, we our going to evaluate our level and how our performance was, how the coach was, how the players were. After that we are going to decide."
Guardiola, whose side __have now lost five Premier League games this season, was also asked in his post-match press conference if he was facing the toughest challenge of his career.
He denied that but acknowledged his past achievements have led to extremely high expectations.
The Spaniard said: "No. I would say the exceptional situation was in the past. When you have eight years as a coach and you win seven titles and you're always winning - that is the exceptional situation.
"I have to look for the best solution to take the players to winning games again."
Guardiola insisted he was enjoying the job.
"I'm so happy in Manchester," he said. "Of course, I prefer to win than to lose but I'm so happy.
"The way I will try to do it, until my last day, is to find the best way possible to achieve what I think is the best way to play."