Sam frustrated by international break

After suffering a disappointing 2-1 defeat at Hannover in their opening Bundesliga fixture, the Gelsenkirchen outfit responded by holding the German champions to a 1-1 draw at the Veltins-Arena last Saturday.

The Bundesliga will now stand down due to a round of international matches and Sam - who joined from Bayer Leverkusen in the close-season - would have preferred to have had the opportunity to build on their first point of the campaign.

"After this good game it might have been better if we could continue playing," he told the club's official website.

"But we cannot change that. In two weeks we want to take that [momentum] into the [Borussia] Monchengladbach [fixture]."

The match with Bayern marked Sam's first appearance in front of home support for Schalke.

The 26-year-old was thrilled to make his home bow and felt Jens Keller's men could have taken all three points.

"It was a nice feeling to play for the first time in the arena and it was a great game," he added.

"In the end, perhaps there could have been even more but we can be satisfied with our performance.

"If we all approach all games [in the same manner] we will take a lot of points."