Following Sunderland’s recent 0-0 draw against Preston North End on October 1, several Black Cats fans took to social media to compare their opponents’ tactics to Wycombe Wanderers’.

In the stalemate at the Stadium of Light, the home side managed to muster up 16 shots but only had two on target.

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They also dominated possession by having more than 60 per cent of the ball, yet they couldn’t find a way past Ryan Lowe’s side who defended valiantly in the North East.

Some fans made comparisons to PNE’s style of play as that of Wycombe, with the Chronicle Live stating that Gareth Ainsworth’s men ‘famously deployed anti-football tactics last season.’

In the previous campaign, Wycombe managed to book a place in the League One play-off final which they would go on to lose 2-0 against Sunderland at Wembley Stadium.

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On their way to making their third play-off final appearance in seven years, the Chairboys kept 19 clean sheets during the league and play-off campaign.

This helped goalkeeper David Stockdale, who is now at Sheffield Wednesday, jointly win the Golden Glove with Plymouth Argyle’s Michael Cooper with 18 league clean sheets.

Bucks Free Press: Some Wycombe fans took this as a compliment due to how defensively strong the Chairboys were last season Some Wycombe fans took this as a compliment due to how defensively strong the Chairboys were last season (Image: Twitter)

Fast forward three-and-a-half months, the Chairboys are 19th in League One following a stuttering start to the season in which they have lost six of their opening 11 games, whilst Sunderland are seventh in the Championship.

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However, the former Premier League team have had to appoint a new manager, after ex-boss Alex Neil left the club at the end of August to join Stoke City.

They have since hired Tony Mowbray who is now Sunderland’s 30th manager since the turn of the century.

This figure also includes caretakers and interims.