Scolari on road to Hull

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Scolari needs reinforcements after watching his side lose for the first time under his tenure against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, thanks to Xabi Alonso's first-half strike. Chelsea had not been beaten at home since Arsenal triumphed 2-1 in February 2004.

But looking ahead to Hull, Scolari said: "We may have Joe Cole back, maybe. But Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack need another 10 days minimum."

He added: "We will have a meeting with the players and start to think about Hull on Wednesday. This game (Liverpool) is finished.

"We did not expect the result but we need to understand that Liverpool have a very good team.

"In the first half we dominated the game and in the second we had more possession of the ball and passed it well until we got near their penalty area.

"After this we crossed many balls but they had a good defensive line and dealt with every one. We didn't play as we have done in other games because we didn't have the space.

"We only had space to cross. This is not the football we play normally. We need to try to play on the ground, not high balls, because I don't have big strikers."

The Chelsea coach will almost certainly try to eradicate their desire to play long balls into the penalty area. They resorted to the tactic in an effort to get back on level terms against Liverpool but it backfired on them.

"I didn't want my players to play high balls. I don't need them to put the ball in the box all the time," added Scolari. "But they lost the confidence to touch the ball and were afraid of not changing the result."