GUS POYET believes Mike Dean should have sent Steven N’Zonzi off last night after the Stoke City man grabbed Jack Rodwell by the throat during Sunderland’s 2-1 defeat in the Capital One Cup.

The Potters midfielder retaliated to a forceful challenge from Rodwell in the first half and motioned to grab the former Manchester City man around the neck, and Poyet felt that referee Dean had no option – instead he was merely booked.

“If you grab someone by the neck, you grab them by the neck,” said Poyet, after watching Jozy Altidore’s goal being cancelled out by a Marc Muniesa brace.” Bottom line. That is a red card. Bottom line. The rest, it doesn’t matter. There are no explanations, no excuses, it doesn’t matter what happened before or after.

“ Everybody saw it. I saw it, the referee saw it, the officials saw it, you saw it. Simple. I’m not going to ask about it, I don’t want mights, possibly, probably, the angles, no.

“I hate losing. It’s difficult to say. I don’t think we played badly, there wasn’t much difference between the two teams. Like I always say between most of the teams in the Premier League, there is little difference and one decision can change a game one way or another. “

Muniesa’s goals typified Stoke’s better clinicality in front of goal, and while Poyet was clear on the N’Zonzi challenge, he did not feel hard done by for the second goal when Muniesa forced his way past Adam Johnson to fire home.

The Black Cats’ boss said: “I thought the decisions went against us. I suppose that sooner or later we’re going to get one our way and we will win a football game.

“I think it’s an action that you can give a foul or not. Like O’Shea in the first half, or when you grab someone by the neck. You either give it or you don’t. No explanation, it’s up to the referee to give it. The Adam Johnson one was a 50-50, I’ll take it. Grabbing by the neck, I won’t. Decisions that we cannot control. That’s football."

Poyet confirmed he would not seek clarification from referee's body PGMOL, adding: “I won’t ask them because I won’t like the answers. When it’s something that everyone agrees with and I don’t get the answer, I don’t like it.

"When it’s a might, a maybe, a probably or a possible, I don’t like. That’s one of the things I hate most now, when people use words to get away from situations.”

Last night’s game was an opportunity for Sunderland’s fringe players to impress Poyet, and the Uruguayan saw enough of Will Buckley and Billy Jones to include them in his plans for the Premier League game against Swansea on Saturday, while reserving special praise for Altidore, who scored his first goal in 30 games in a red and white shirt.

He added: “Buckley and Billy Jones impressed me, they’re going to play on Saturday for sure. It was important also for Jozy to score, it has been a long time, it is very difficult for a striker.

“He needed to lead the line today, we lost Connor [Wickham] the morning of the game and it was difficult for Jozy. He knows he needs to score goals to convince people he can be better for us.

Meanwhile, Potters boss Mark Hughes did not feel that N’Zonzi should have been sent off.

“I thought it was a poor tackle,” the Stoke manager said of Rodwell’s challenge. “I thought there was a little bit of intent there. Steven reacted because the boy maybe pushed his head towards him. Mike Dean did well, it would be harsh on both sides if there were red cards, nobody wants to see that.

“This is a competition we want to do well in. We’ve had a good performance. It wasn’t an easy draw for us, so to come here and win was important. We’re grateful to be in the hat.”