Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill has criticised captain Lee Cattermole for picking up a "crazy" red card during his side's 2-0 win over MK Dons in round three of the League Cup.
The 24-year-old was sent off for a 32nd-minute lunge on Dons full-back Adam Chicksen, before second-half goals from Craig Gardner and James McClean saved the Black Cats' blushes.
"From the minute you start lunging in you are giving the referee no option," said O'Neill. "It looked from the sideline that the referee had no option. I think that whatever we say, we can watch it back a hundred times, the referee is watching someone lunge in and you run that risk.
"It is crazy. You can't do it, we talked about discipline before the game and there we are, down to 10 men, it is a hard enough battle here and he didn't help himself and he didn't help his team.
"He started the season off brightly for us and he's a great leader, but he has to have discipline himself. There is no point asking for discipline from the team when you don't show it yourself."
In 79 first-team appearances for Sunderland, Cattermole has received 32 yellow cards and been sent off five times.
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