LONDON -- Harry Kane has dismissed his critics and insists he will never lose confidence in front of goal, despite another frustrating evening for the Tottenham striker against Monaco.
Kane opened his account for the season and scored his first goal in nine matches for club and country in Spurs' 4-0 win at Stoke but he looked hesitant in Wednesday's 2-1 defeat to Monaco in the Champions League.
The forward, 22, had a number of shots blocked and he missed Spurs' best chance to equalise late on, firing straight at goalkeeper Danijel Subasic from inside the box.
"As a striker you have to be confident," Kane told reporters at Wembley. "I'll never lose my confidence in front of goal. I'll be doing it on Sunday [against Sunderland], shooting and making the keeper work.
"Today I had a chance I should have scored -- I sliced it bit which made it go in the middle of the goal, it's just one of those I didn't connect right with. That's football, you have to learn from it and hopefully I'll score on Sunday.
"People said the same this time last year and I went on to win the Golden Boot and scored 30 goals for club and country. People are going to talk but it doesn't bother me. I'm fit, I'm ready to go and I'll be ready on Sunday if called up and hopefully I'll get on the scoresheet and we'll win the game.
"We had a couple of early chances and at this level you have to be more ruthless and put them away and get ahead in the game. We didn't do that and got caught out and punished for sloppy play. When you're 2-0 down in the Champions League, it's difficult but I thought we were the better team.
"We're more than capable of winning the rest of our games. There's no team in the group we'll fear. We're more than capable of winning all of them."
Wednesday's defeat at Wembley was a blow to Tottenham's hopes of reaching the knockouts but the club is expected to announce more good news in the coming days, with Kyle Walker and Danny Rose both close to signing new contracts.
Sources have told ESPN FC that deals for the full-backs are close, and on Thursday Mauricio Pochettino "promised" that more players would follow Christian Eriksen and Eric Dier by committing their futures to the club.
"It's positive. It's what you want," commented Kane. "You want to keep your best players at the club and we're doing that. We've got a great bunch of guys here, a very strong group and we're very together. It's good news for the club and hopefully we can all concentrate and move forward.
"I don't think it's settled us down though. You have to focus on your own game and ability. It's great they've signed new deals but, for me personally, I don't really concentrate on that sort of stuff and I'm sure others don't either. I just try to work hard on my game and as a team we'll fight together."