Miron Muslic admitted Plymouth Argyle 'simply didn't show up' as they were beaten 2-0 by Hull City in their Championship relegation six-pointer at the MKM Stadium.

It was a message which Muslic repeated throughout his post-match Press conference and when it was mentioned to him he was usually a very positive person, he replied: "It should be a sign and I'm doing this on purpose."

After all the plaudits Argyle deservedly received for their battling display in their Emirates FA Cup fifth round clash at Manchester City only three nights earlier this was a performance which was in complete contrast.

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It came after the best possible preparation for the hugely important game, which included the squad and staff staying up in the north of England after playing at the Etihad Stadium.

Argyle did not have a shot on target as they slumped to a 13th defeat out of 18 away Championship matches this season, with Hull scoring twice early in the second half to secure just their third home league win of the campaign.

Muslic said: "We simply didn't show up in a game where we knew that this is a big one for us. Sloppy from the start, could not even get close to the performance of the last couple of weeks.

"That's a problem we have, too many players that cannot deliver consistently the performances we need to be competitive. I think today we have been far, far away from anything."

Muslic admitted Argyle's performance had come as a surprise to him. "Yes, because all the signs of the last couple of weeks was just we are heading in a right direction but we have to be humble all the time and to realise what our situation is," he said.

"I know we played a fantastic game a couple of days ago but the reality is the Championship and the reality is fighting for every inch on the pitch, and I think we just missed this today completely.

"That's why I'm very much disappointed because we showed a lot of this character and efforts the last couple of weeks, that's why we have been able to collect points."

Muslic added: "It's not about changing the players, we have to change the mentality and switch on. In the Championship it's fight, it's physical, it's duels. I think we showed it in an excellent way over the last couple of weeks, and we didn't show it tonight. If we don't show it we don't have the quality to compete."

Joe Gelhardt gave Hull a 48th minute lead before Argyle fell further behind just after the hour mark. Joao Pedro appeared offside when he broke clear but no flag was raised and he squared the ball inside to Abu Kamara, who had a simple task to score from close range.

Muslic said: "I think the second one we concede, with all due respect this player is one-and-a-half metres offside. On this level we should see this.

"We watched it live and and we watched it now when all the emotions are a little bit down in the locker room. Pedro is one-and-a-half metres offside, I think you have to see this."

With striker Ryan Hardie ruled out by a back injury, and seemingly for the foreseeable future, there is little to no goal threat in the Argyle team, certainly from open play.

Muslic. We are trying a lot to find a source but it's not easy. Hardie is that source for sure, he has showed it, he proved it. I think we get Muhamed Tijani very close to be that, he scored a beautiful goal against Cardiff and then injured himself.

"So it's very thin up in front and that's for sure one of the reasons we are struggling. We simply cannot create the opportunities to score goals."

That has been the case no matter which players have been tried in the attacking positions. Against Hull, Mustapha Bundu was again the striker in the 3-4-2-1 formation with Rami Al Hajj and Bali Mumba 'the 10s' behind him.

Michael Obafemi was a 62nd minute substitute while Michael Baidoo and Callum Wright both came off the bench in the closing stages but Argyle could not find a way of even forcing Hull 'keeper Ivor Pandur into a serious save.

Muslic said: "If you are that kind of profile, and we see you as a number nine or as a 10, in the end it's all about goal involvement and I think we are struggling there massively."

The Argyle head coach thought Hull would have deserved to be ahead at half-time after creating a couple of good scoring chances but they did not take them as it remained goalless until the break.

Muslic said about his side: "It was sloppy from minute one until the end and we can't afford to be sloppy, we can't throw away games and unfortunately after this nice adventure against Manchester City we simply didn't show up tonight. I'm very disappointed.

"We tried everything to prepare the lads best possible. We worked backwards from Hull City. Maybe it was the wrong decision."

It is now 11 months since Argyle last won an away Championship match when they beat then bottom-of-the-table Rotherham United 1-0. They have picked up just five points and scored six goals from 18 league games on the road this season.

Muslic added: "We have to show up with our structure, our organisation, fill this with intensity and then we have a chance to be competitive and we simply missed that tonight.

"I have to be very hard on the lads because I'm always protecting them but this is the reality, this is the truth, and if we know this we can move on and I will be again very positive."

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