Four key talking points from Sunderland's goalless draw with Burnley - plus post-match reaction from David Moyes and Sean Dyche

The Black Cats were unable to make a breakthrough at the Stadium of Light, with Burnley coming closest to a goal when James Tarkowski hit the post with a second-half header.

What were the main talking points at the Stadium of Light?

RUING A REPLAY

Both Sunderland and Burnley will be happy to be in Monday’s third-round draw, but neither side will have wanted to add an extra fixture to their already-busy schedule.

The extra game is especially troublesome to the Black Cats, with January already looking like a difficult month to negotiate given the size of the club’s injury list and the absence of a number of key players at the Africa Cup of Nations.

David Moyes named a surprisingly strong starting line-up this afternoon, with Jermain Defoe, Fabio Borini, Adnan Januzaj, Papy Djilobodji and Vito Mannone all playing.

Will he be as bold at Burnley in ten days’ time? With the replay coming between league games against Stoke and West Brom, he will surely be tempted to rest Defoe as a bare minimum.

DENAY-ING THE OPPOSITION

The day’s major positive from a Sunderland perspective was the performance of Jason Denayer, who impressed as he finally got the chance to play in his preferred position of centre-half.

Since joining on loan from Manchester City, Denayer has found himself playing in a holding-midfield role, and while he has done reasonably well in the central area, he has not always looked like a midfield natural.

He looked perfectly at home this afternoon, successfully marking Andre Gray, who tore Sunderland apart as he scored a hat-trick in Burnley’s 4-1 league win at the end of December.

His positioning was especially impressive, and he cut out a series of Burnley attacks with some superb sliding interceptions at the heart of the penalty area.

BLUNT BLACK CATS

Take Jermain Defoe out of the equation, and in Sunderland’s last nine games, their only other goals have been Patrick van Aanholt’s winner against Watford and Fabio Borini’s last-minute consolation against Manchester United.

That is not an impressive strike rate, and while holding on to Defoe is clearly an imperative in the second half of the season, the Black Cats have to come up with some alternative goalscorers to the former England international.

They didn’t look like breaking the deadlock today, and Moyes will be desperate to get some more out of Borini and Januzaj in particular, neither of whom threatened the Burnley goalmouth.

Similarly, while Jack Rodwell fired in a number of long-range efforts, one of which was tipped over by Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope, the midfielder’s last goal came on the final day of last season.

WORRIED BY THE BENCH

Sunderland have a host of senior players injured, and have also lost Lamine Kone, Wahbi Khzari and Didier Ndong to the Africa Cup of Nations. As a result, their squad is severely stretched.

Moyes claims he played a strong side today because he wanted to progress to the fourth round, but to a certain extent, his hand was also forced by the lack of options available to him.

John O’Shea came off the substitutes’ bench in the second half, but take away third-choice goalkeeper Mika, and the rest of Sunderland’s substitutes were untried youngsters.

If there are further injuries in the next few weeks, could Moyes rely on the likes of Ethan Robson, Joel Asoro, Josh Maja, George Honeyman or Elliot Embleton to step up to the senior ranks?

MANAGER’S COMMENTS

Sunderland boss David Moyes said: “We put out our strongest team. We didn’t have many players available to us, but we want to get through and build something. We did everything we could, and put out what we thought was our best team to get a result.

“I think with ten or 15 minutes to go, they were the better team and looked as though they were going to score, so if you had given me a replay at that stage, I would have taken it. I’d rather have won today, but I’d rather have a replay than be out of the cup, that’s for sure.

“Overall, I thought we were poor. I’m disappointed in our performance. I didn’t think we played well. I thought we played better and had a few decent bits of play in the first half, but overall I didn’t think we got started in the second half. We tried as much as we could to alter it within what we have.

“The result is better, but if you took the goals out of the game down there, it was the same type of game. It was a poor game, and even at Burnley it was a poor game. The difference was that we conceded terrible goals there. Today it was a poor game, but we just didn’t concede any goals. It was very similar.

Burnley boss Sean Dyche said: “I was really pleased. We made some changes and I was really pleased. We are working with a squad where there are fine margins between the players and I'm really pleased with how the players handled today.

“Overall, it was a good performance. We were on the front foot – that's how we want to play home and away. A lot has been made of our away league form, but you can see that we want to take the game on and win games, and that was evident today with the group.

“I was really pleased with the mentality, particularly as the game wore on. I thought we looked really fit, really strong and were trying to win the tie, of course. But it's not easy.”

LINE-UPS:

Sunderland (4-2-3-1): Mannone; Manquillo, Denayer, Djilobodji, van Aanholt; Love, Rodwell; Borini, Januzaj, Larsson (O’Shea 84); Defoe.

Subs (not used): Mika (gk), E Robson, Honeyman, Embleton, Asoro, Maja.

Burnley (4-4-1-1): Pope; Darikwa, Keane, Tarkowski, Ward; Gudmundsson (Hendrick 72), Defour, Barton, Arfield (Kightly 60); Vokes; Gray (Barnes 72).

Subs (not used): Robinson (gk), Lowton, Mee, Marney.