Sunderland v Huddersfield Town: Darren Moore on staying diplomatic and pragmatic amid hard times

There was one notable exception. When he felt compelled to give his take on matters in response to the utterances of Sheffield Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri following his summer departure.

For the Huddersfield Town manager, it’s about controlling what he can, head down, and being conciliatory in the main.

Despite receiving stick in some quarters from sections of Terriers supporters for his side’s conservative approach in recent games against Watford, Hull City and Southampton, he has shrewdly resisted the urge to publicly say: ‘What else do you expect?’, given the number of players who have been unavailable.

Moore, as is his wont, has cracked on and stayed focused. An improved second half, from an offensive perspective, in Saturday’s draw against the Saints was a bit of personal victory, not that he would be saying it.

In the Championship, being pragmatic is often the way, unless you are blessed with hard cash.

In terms of Huddersfield of late, it has involved employing a five-man defence to stymie the opposition and get some confidence and order back after heavy beatings against Cardiff and Leeds.

Given a double-figure injury count, it has surely been understandable.

It’s not necessarily the way Moore would ideally play, but needs must with the Town chief having also revealed that he has had to enlist the help of several B team players to boost the numbers in training on occasions in recent weeks.

He said: "We’ve had to manage that and I'm grateful to Jon Worthington for allowing me to have some of his younger lads to help our numbers so we can work. But of course it disturbs his numbers to work as well.

"If you are going off my managerial career to date and the way I have gone about it and my (previous) teams have scored goals and way we have engaged higher up the pitch, that's a lot of things (different) in how I have set up before.

"Also at the same time, it's horses for courses in that you maybe can't set up like that because of the availability of certain players.

"You have to pick and choose what is right for the team at the time. Having said that, we could have everybody fit and available and we still apply the system we have done in working up against the opposition and having the game plan.

"Five substitutions have also changed the whole complex of the team dynamics.

"We had 13 players available against Watford, 15 against Hull and 16 against Southampton. We've managed it as best as we could and actually felt we could have got more out of games.

"I've been pleased with how the players have gone about it and got on with the job at hand.

"No manager does want it, but we all face times like it. It just about managing the situation in what you have got available and get on with it and that’s been the main thing."

Moore does have a point in fairness. His Wednesday side scored 81 times last season in the league and the West Brom team he managed had scored 70 Championship goals by the time he was sacked with a few months to go in the 2018-19 season.

Even accounting for Town's magnificent 'Great Escape' last season, it was a side who have struggled for goals. Even more so with squad numbers down.

That said, Moore is savvy enough to accept that a run of one win in ten league matches, whatever the circumstances, will provoke censure.

Having dealt with plenty at his previous club and also at Albion, the 49-year-old has always been one to blank out the outside noise.

While many lost their heads after Wednesday's first-leg play-off implosion at the end of last season at Peterborough - certainly on social media - Moore kept his.

On Wednesday, he pits his wits against a rival manager in Tony Mowbray, who received elements of criticism even before he took charge of a Sunderland game - he was appointed early on last season.

His sterling work since has won the respect of even the most grudging Wearsider.

Moore continued: "I wouldn’t imagine he’s on social media, because I am not.

"But we just make sure we are giving the best account of ourselves and working as hard as we can for our respective football clubs and moving in the right direction on a daily and weekly basis.

"You won't see me getting too high in the highs or too low in the lows. It’s about staying in the moment and progressive in your thoughts.

"The main thing for me is to keep moving forward, and however positive we deemed Saturday to be, we move on.

"Tony has done a great job up there. He is someone I respect highly and has done magnificent work wherever he has been, if you look at his record."