Pep Guardiola hasn't got much wrong since becoming Manchester City's manager in 2016.
Since the conclusion of the transitional 16-17 campaign, the Blues have won seven pieces of silverware and established themselves as one of Europe's elite outfits.
One area Guardiola has excelled in is recruitment. Two years ago he spent big on three full-backs in order to be able to implement his high-intensity style.
Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Aleksandr Kolarov all left to make way for Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo.
The City manager upgraded his goalkeeper as Ederson came in to boost the Blues' prospects of playing out from the back, while Bernardo Silva also arrived that summer and has been a revelation.
City were relatively frugal over the following three transfer windows, averaging a net spend of around £21million per window before spending big on Rodri and Joao Cancelo this summer.
It is early days for both players at the Etihad but Rodri already looks to be the man capable of replacing Fernandinho in the long term, while Cancelo is slowly easing his way into the side.
Blues fans on the whole will agree that both players were necessary additions, with Fernandinho turning 35 before the season is up and Guardiola requiring a replacement for the outbound Danilo, who moved to Juventus in place of Cancelo.
It was a surprise to many, though, that City didn't recruit a replacement for club stalwart Vincent Kompany following his return to Belgium with Anderlecht.
City wanted Harry Maguire but balked at the £80million asking price Manchester United were willing to pay and Guardiola decided against pursuing alternative targets.
He could not have envisaged Aymeric Laporte would suffer a knee injury in City's fourth Premier League game that will more than likely keep him out until the new year.
City's injury problems at the back have been magnified by the thigh problems John Stones is experiencing.
The erratic Nicolas Otamendi's performance at Norwich earlier this month prompted further questions about Guardiola's decision not to sign a central defender but City have played three times since then, scoring 16 goals and conceding none in the process.
Otamendi and Fernandinho will probably be Ederson's shields until Stones returns in mid-October and they played in the 3-0 win away to Shakhtar Donetsk and the drubbing of Watford last weekend.
City's options may look threadbare beyond those two but the performances of Eric Garcia, 18, and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, 17, against Preston earlier this week week will have given Guardiola hope that his transfer gamble might yet pay off.
Garcia, a product of Barcelona's famed La Masia academy, won more aerial duels than any other City player against Preston on Tuesday night and ended the match boasting a 94 per cent success rate with his passes.
Harwood-Bellis, who went on City's pre-season tour of Asia, was also impressive at Deepdale as he gave a composed display alongside his academy teammate.
"I saw Taylor [Harwood-Bellis] in China and I said, 'wow, that guy has a good thing'," Guardiola commented on the youngster's performance in Preston. "He had a lot of quality.
"The leadership from Eric [Garcia] is really good. We see it every day in the training sessions. It is no problem to play with them.
"John [Stones] will be back after the international break but we can count on them (Garcia and Harwood-Bellis) when we need them."
Perhaps City's problems at the back aren't as serious as they seemed after all.
