A combination of confidence issues and competition have set Norwich City defender Ben Chrisene back after a promising start to life at Carrow Road.

That's according to Canaries head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup, who made the left-back a regular feature of his team early in the season.

Chrisene made his debut for England's under-21s last week, too, but hasn't started a Championship game since City's 1-0 loss to Swansea more than two months ago.

Thorup puts that down to both a dip in form from his charge and the team-mates he's up against, with Manchester City loanee Callum Doyle currently occupying the left side of defence.

"I think it's fair to say that Ben started well for us and maybe had a little bit of a drop in performance level and maybe also confidence," the Norwich boss admitted.

"That is fair, but he needs to make sure that he can build it up again and show confidence when he's on again. He's competing against some good players.

"That's how it is, and there are no wildcards in a team like this. I think what we try to build here is that we have competition in every position.

"Of course [before the international break] was a little bit different, but hopefully now on the other side of the break most of the guys will be fit and back in again, and then there will definitely be competition. Then it's about taking your chances when you get them."

Even with some of those injured players returning for the weekend's trip to West Brom, Thorup will still have to work around selection issues in the coming games.

He believes there are positives to that, however, including the opportunity to blood young players who otherwise would have been on the fringes.

"Don't get me wrong, it's never ideal to be in the situation we are in at the moment with so many key players out of the line-up," he continued. "I think every team in the league would suffer a little bit from that.

"But we try our best, and what is good for us long-term is that we can give the chances to some of the younger players."