Sunday’s defeat to Man City in the derby has become the latest low point in an already disappointing season for Manchester United. Barring the moment of brilliance from Jadon Sancho for the equalizer, at no point did it look like a contest between two sides on par with each other. City played a comfortable game at their own desired pace, won by a plush scoreline and all in all, did not have to change gears too many times on Sunday night at the Etihad.
Following the defeat, there still remained the difficult job of facing critics through the media and this time the burden fell to midfielder Scott McTominay who accompanied manager Ralf Rangnick for the interviews.
With the midfield battle having been the key duel that was lost which ultimately led to United’s toothless attacks, the Scotsman would have been expecting questions targeted at both the team as a whole as well as his own department.
The player did well to answer questions in a clear and concise manner, keeping emotion aside and reflecting back on the game without bias. However, McTominay was spotted fidgeting a lot during the interview and in the most hilarious way where he kept using his middle finger to scratch his nose.
The repeated show of the finger has fans wondering whether the Scotsman was indeed giving the finger or was it just how he went about having a scratch at his nose?
McTominay giving it the “pretend to scratch myself” middle finger trick that I perfected in third class. pic.twitter.com/biqDTZNXki
During at least 4 different occasions McTominay used his middle finger in a manner that made it seem like he was flipping the bird. The first instance was during his response to the causes behind the defeat where it did not look like an intentional airing of the finger.
However, that was perhaps not the case when McTominay was asked to respond to the comments of United legends such as Roy Keane and Gary Neville that “United gave up”.
"Whatever goes on behind the scenes is completely irrelevant to me."
Scott McTominay reacts to Manchester United’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City 🔊 pic.twitter.com/1RID7m3oJI
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 6, 2022
This was perhaps the toughest question of the lot and when it is asked at 1:30 of the clip, McTominay is not scratching his nose with the middle finger as he was during the other responses. Rather the freeze-frame would show a blatant airing of the finger here, hence all the more likely that he meant to give the finger for this response.
Having tried to keep his emotions out for the majority of the interview, it would not be a surprise if this particular question caused a lapse in judgement for the player.
However, given the nature of the defeat and United’s poor season, McTominay would not be too bothered about fans having this debate on whether it was intentional or accidental and as it stands, he still remains the only one who knows the answer to that question.
