At times it seemed like the portly referee was wearing a yellow shirt. He seemed distinctly intent on giving Spurs the three points.
Unlike ordinary professionals, referee's are allowed to make disgusting and biased mistakes and still take home their £100k a year salary without retribution from those who have lost out.
This addressed and you can see why managers are queuing up to have a pop at Wiley. He infuriated Sir Alex Ferguson earlier this season and needs to be taken off the refereeing register asap. He makes Phil Dowd look like a refereeing god.
Aside from Jermain Defoe's blatent offside goal, that same man, along with Tom Huddlestone and David Bentley should have all been sent off.
Defoe should have walked for a two footed lunge on Gary Caldwell, whilst Bentley should have walked for an obvious dive whilst booked.
Huddlestone's potential red should have come after his late challenge on McCarthy after already having entered the book.
Aside from the above, there were also a number of other contencious decisions made by Wiley and his assistants that left the mind to boggle.
In terms of the performance it was much better from the Latics who the referee aside, matched Spurs in every aspect of the game.
Marcelo Moreno was poor, he looked like Jordi Gomez in disguise, whilst Scott Sinclair and Victor Moses both struggled after their introductions to cope on a very poor pitch.
The Martinez ethos and style of play is going to be difficult to adopt on a quagmire of a pitch and hopefully we'll have a pristine surface ready for the game with Liverpool.
James McCarthy continues to be a huge bonus for Martinez in the middle of the park and Momo Diame put in a good shift.
A dejected Latics conceeded two soft goals late on that flattered Tottenham, but the signs of improvement were there. A decent pitch is all the likes of Rodallega, N'Zogbia, Sinclair, Moses, and McCarthy need to get the football flowing.
Here is the reaction of the two managers.
Roberto Martinez
Their first goal was very disappointing because it was a clear, clear offside decision. You look at other games where you have close calls that could go either way, but this was not close.
The first goal here was always going to be everything. The pitch was tough, for both teams, and we maybe missed bit of a spark having played on Wednesday. But to start a game 1-0 down makes it very difficult for you to be able to impose yourself on the game.
For whatever reason, the referee didn't give us the decision, and I feel we were on the wrong end of many decisions on the day. There were a few key decisions that went against us. I felt they (Tottenham) were lucky to keep 11 players on the pitch and I don't feel we were treated the same way as they were.
You want consistency from the official and hope both teams are treated in the same manner, and I don't think that happened today. We just hope that will be evened up over the course of the season,
When you play the top sides, it seems it is a little bit easier for them to get the decisions. But today was particularly disappointing, because the goal was a massive moment in the game and it wasn't even a close call.
It's quite clear we need to carry on doing what we're doing, playing in the same manner and make sure we bounce back. You can't do much about refereeing decisions and sometimes they make you feel very frustrated. But we will use it to bounce back in the right manner against Birmingham.
We showed great character in the second half and the right reaction to try to get back in the game. But when you are playing against a very professional team with a lot of experience and composure, you can't give them a goal start.
You need to score the first goal and take the initiative against them, and the game was completely changed today. Today was the first game of the final third of the campaign, and it's important we try to influence as much as we can every game we have left.
We need to show the right reaction on Saturday and all our concentration must now be focused on that. We need to look at the good things we did today - and there were some, because the score-line did not reflect the game - and make sure we are ready for Birmingham.
Harry Redknapp
It was a great performance from us today. I was really pleased with the attitude we showed. I won't sleep tonight. It doesn't bother me at all. Sometime you get them, sometimes you don't. They (the fans) love him [Pavluychenko]. He's got ability and when he wants to play and wants to work he's great. Ledley looks like he's torn a muscle. The table
| Latest match Sunday, 21st February 2010 |
Pld | Home | Away | Overall | Pts | GD | |||||||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | |||||||||
| 1 | Chelsea | 27 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 24 | 14 | 19 | 4 | 4 | 63 | 22 | 61 | +41 | ||||
| 2 | Manchester United | 27 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 36 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 27 | 16 | 18 | 3 | 6 | 63 | 24 | 57 | +39 | ||||
| 3 | Arsenal | 27 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 38 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 25 | 16 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 63 | 30 | 55 | +33 | ||||
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 27 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 20 | 18 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 48 | 26 | 46 | +22 | ||||
| 5 | Manchester City | 26 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 30 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 18 | 19 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 48 | 33 | 46 | +15 | ||||
| 6 | Liverpool | 27 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 31 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 13 | 6 | 8 | 43 | 27 | 45 | +16 | ||||
| 7 | Aston Villa | 26 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 37 | 21 | 45 | +16 | ||||
| 8 | Everton | 26 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 20 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 38 | 37 | 38 | +1 | ||||
| 9 | Fulham | 27 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 32 | 29 | 37 | +3 | ||||
| 10 | Birmingham City | 26 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 25 | 28 | 37 | -3 | ||||
| 11 | Stoke City | 26 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 26 | 29 | 34 | -3 | ||||
| 12 | Blackburn Rovers | 27 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 31 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 29 | 43 | 34 | -14 | ||||
| 13 | West Ham United | 26 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 23 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 20 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 35 | 40 | 27 | -5 | ||||
| 14 | Sunderland | 26 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 19 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 30 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 32 | 44 | 26 | -12 | ||||
| 15 | Wigan Athletic | 26 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 15 | 34 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 26 | 52 | 25 | -26 | ||||
| 16 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 26 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 25 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 21 | 44 | 24 | -23 | ||||
| 17 | Hull City | 27 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 18 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 34 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 25 | 54 | 24 | -29 | ||||
| 18 | Bolton Wanderers | 26 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 23 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 29 | 49 | 23 | -20 | ||||
| 19 | Burnley | 26 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 17 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 10 | 43 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 27 | 55 | 23 | -28 | ||||
| 20 | Portsmouth | 26 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 16 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 24 | 4 | 4 | 18 | 21 | 44 | 16 | -23 | ||||
Next game
Next up for the Latics is the trip to Birmingham City on Saturday. A return to the three o'clock kick off is welcome but Alex McLeish's side are very organised and difficult to beat so it will be another tough game.