Muslic tells Argyle's attackers to step up

Plymouth have picked up 10 points from 10 Championship games since Miron Muslic replaced Wayne Rooney as head coach

Plymouth Argyle boss Miron Muslic has called upon his attacking players to "step up" and deliver more goals and assists in the battle to avoid relegation from the Championship.

The Pilgrims are six points adrift of safety in 23rd with 11 games remaining and welcome Sheffield Wednesday to Home Park on Saturday (15:00 GMT)where all six of their league wins have come this season.

Since an excellent 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion and hitting five in the commanding victory against Millwall, Plymouth have scored just twice in their past four games.

Striker Ryan Hardie bagged four goals in two matches before going off injured after just 19 minutes in the 2-0 defeat at Blackburn and has missed the past three games.

In the absence of Hardie, Muslic has turned to Mustapha Bundu to lead the line with Callum Wright, Bali Mumba, Rami Al Hajj, Michael Baidoo and Muhamed Tijani all used in behind, with just eight goals between them this season.

Meanwhile, forward Michael Obafemi has scored just twice and hasn't netted in any of the 12 games he's featured in since early November.

"It's clear, with or without Hardie, we just have to be more dangerous up front," Muslic told BBC Radio Devon.

"We have to create simply more output and it's not just about a number nine. We have also a lot of number 10s.

"We just have to produce more because right now I am demanding very much from Nikola [Katic], Maxi [Talovierov], Plegi [Julio Pleguezuelo], Victor [Palsson] and Matty [Sorinola] and they are defending outstandingly.

"But they have also to score all the goals up front. That's not fair. It should not be like this.

"That's why we need our number nines and number 10s to score. I think it's time now for them to step up."

Hardie, who was nominated for the Championship's February player of the month award, trained again for the first time today and is close to a return, according to Muslic, who said it will give Argyle "the boost they need".

"We just missed him so much over the last couple of weeks," Muslic added.

"If you have a player with this type of quality, this type of profile, which is very much needed for the type of game we are playing - organised, structured, waiting for regains to transition - we simply miss him.

"I'm very optimistic and positive to get him back on the pitch on Wednesday and we will try everything possible to maybe somehow - let's see how the reaction is - get him involved as a potential game-changer for Saturday."

Ryan Hardie is Plymouth's top scorer in the Championship with five goals

Muslic hopes the "hostile" atmosphere at Home Park will help the team pick up three points at the weekend.

"That's exactly what we want and that's exactly the message to the team," he added.

"We have to do the job and the green army will be there, they will create the atmosphere for us.

"We need this, always behind us, pushing us, celebrating when we tackle, celebrating when we create some offensive threat and just be ready to support us, to be the 12th man and this will have a huge, huge impact on our performance.

"That's why I'm very confident and looking forward to Saturday."