Despite fasting from dawn until sunset, Nohan Kenneh turned in a superb Leeds United performance on Monday night as the under-23s hammered Crystal Palace. The 19-year-old played as one of the two central midfielders in the 4-2-3-1 system we have become accustomed to with Jesse Marsch’s first team.
Kenneh was formidable alongside Jack Jenkins in the middle of the park as Andrew Taylor’s side romped to a 4-0 victory in Premier League 2 at Elland Road. Though Kenneh has most commonly been seen in central defence across the past couple of seasons, he stepped up in a more advanced role on Monday even though he had not eaten or drunken anything since dawn.
The Liberian is a Muslim and fasting during the month of Ramadan, which means his body was operating on very little fuel all evening. Taylor said: “He’s obviously played centre-back the last few weeks.
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“He was outstanding tonight. His presence, his pressing, his winning the ball back was really good, but then he was good on the ball.
“He drove forward, he played passes, as I said, he’s been fasting all day so he’s not had any food or drink which adds another dimension to it so yes, I could go through the full team and every single one I’d have some sort of praise. Harvey [Sutcliffe] at right-back was great, the full team, everybody played really well tonight.”
Kenneh has been a regular in United’s senior matchday squads throughout the season, even picking up a yellow card at Molineux last month despite a continued wait for his debut. While he waits for that opportunity under Marsch, Taylor acknowledged Kenneh’s development has been great despite their limited time together on the training field.
The under-23 boss also called for patience from those youngsters who have not yet cut their teeth in the senior side. He said: “It’s (Kenneh’s development) been good.
“I’ve not had a massive amount of time, he’s bobbed in and out of the first team and then with us, but yes, he’s been great. Nohan, but not just Nohan, there’s others, just need to be patient as well.
“Yes, they maybe haven’t featured in the first team, but they’ve still got time on their hands. They’re still getting exposure with the manager, with the first team and involved, and then come back in here and go perform, and you’ll get your chance.
“You just need to be patient and sometimes that’s the hard thing with these lads because they all want to be playing. That’s the challenge.”
