Updated ' Russell Slade Accuses Forest '

Cardiff boss Russell Slade accused Nottingham Forest of "parking the bus" after the Bluebirds fell further off the Sky Bet Championship play-off pace with a 1-1 draw on Tuesday evening.

The visitors had led through 18-year-old Oliver Burke's ninth-minute opener - his first senior goal - but were pegged back by a deflected Aron Gunnarsson effort four minutes later.

Cardiff had over 60 per cent of possession and 17 shots to Forest's six, but they could not make it pay as they dropped six points behind the top six, much to Slade's frustration.


Cardiff boss Russell Slade accuses Forest of "parking the bus" after draw

By PA Sport Report

Cardiff boss Russell Slade accused Nottingham Forest of "parking the bus" after the Bluebirds fell further off the Sky Bet Championship play-off pace with a 1-1 draw.

The visitors had led through 18-year-old Oliver Burke's ninth-minute opener - his first senior goal - but were pegged back by a deflected Aron Gunnarsson effort four minutes later. Cardiff had over 60 per cent of possession and 17 shots to Forest's six, but they could not make it pay as they dropped six points behind the top six, much to Slade's frustration.


"We are disappointed, we had some very good chances in that first half," said Slade. "They parked the bus in the second half, sat very, very deep and made it difficult for us. "They lived on the counter-attack and we could not unlock the door which is very frustrating, even though we did a lot of very good things in the game. "They tried to kill the game and see it out from an early stage, but we should have been adding to our tally with the three good first-half chances we had. "We will just keep working at it, and we played well against a good Forest side who, had they been any deeper, they would have needed snorkels." The draw, in which Tony Watt, Anthony Pilkington and Gunnarsson missed excellent chances, means it is just three wins in 12 for Cardiff, and Slade admits they need to find a ruthless edge. "That run is probably not quite good enough for where we are wanting to be," he said. "The return for us over this festive period has been poor and we need to start taking our chances and be clinical when we have teams under pressure and are creating opportunities."

Despite Cardiff's dominance, Forest had late chances to win it, with Jamie Ward and substitute Nelson Oliveira failing to convert gilt-edged chances.


' Dougie Freeman '

But manager Dougie Freedman was happy enough with a point that extended Forest's unbeaten run to seven games. "I think we should have won it at the end, we had the two best chances of the game during that last 15 minutes," he said. "We tried to slow everything down and quiet their fans down and we felt that was the best way to do it. "We made a lot of changes and we didn't complain about the number of fixtures. The younger guys we had come in gave us some freshness and allowed us to keep some guys on the bench and bring them on to try and win the game. "So I am very proud of the players, they just got on with it and knuckled down. "With our transfer embargo I am going to need to be able to call on these players to get us through to the end of the season. "My January will be easy and it is about these lads helping to freshen us up and keep us going."

Slade said that "If they were even deeper they would've needed snorkels" that made me laugh to be fair.

And it's his job to try and combat their 2 banks of defence.

He does my head in with all his excuses.

Hes got some neck saying that given the football he's served up for majority of his time here.

Last couple of months aside he's had us playing like an away team at home ffs!!!

They offered nothing bar the odd counter attack through Williams when he was on..

I hate teams parking the bus but at the end of the day it's his job and the players to break it down.

Both sides looked very tired at the end. To be fair to Forest, they played Leeds in the late game on Sunday, so didn't have much time to recover. Neither did we after Milton Keynes. Perhaps these games are too close together?

And it's his job to try and combat their 2 banks of defence.

He does my head in with all his excuses.

All managers (none more so than mourinho) make excuses. I don't know if it's to deflect attention off the players. But I've got to be honest, I feel slade does tell the truth. I was sat there getting annoyed with forest for parking the bus because we're not some powerhouse are we, I think they should be doing more to win a game . But slade has come out and said we couldn't break them down and I'm fine with that. It's something he will have to try and learn.

Incase u hadn't noticed, I'm in the minority that isn't completely against him lol.

He is spit on, time wasting from first throw in, ref did nothing about it, Dexter took the p out if ref when he was being subbed, they certainly parked the bus. I think city kept going, just not that quality in front of goal.

There was plenty of huff and puff but let's be honest we are just not good enough to break teams down...and uncle fester is just not going to come up with anything to try to change things....mid table mediocrity beckons

Annoys me when managers do this.

Slade has done it v Derby and other top teams.

Annoys me when managers do this.

Slade has done it v Derby and other top teams.

Spot on there Neil

Annoys me when managers do this.

Slade has done it v Derby and other top teams.

Spot on there Neil

Mourinho always does it then he parks the bus v Liverpool or Arsenal.

That is a pathetic accusation. Forest came for a point, and got it. In fact in 2nd half they had the 2 best chances.

Slade failed to put a team and formation together to combat a defensively minded team.

The players were also culpable. Like last 2 games, perhaps City should have been 2-3 clear at the interval. Their football was quite good to watch for 20 odd minutes but the final ball was shocking, the final efforts were poor (Pilkington - can he head the ball or not?) and the work rate of Jones was again shocking.

Slade out managed again.

He has to go, but nobody in control knows eff all about football and so unless another club wants Slade that badly (a league 2 club would be his level), then we're stuck with him bumbling along until may.

What did he expect the naive numpty, forest to roll over!!!!

Win your home games, draw away and get you promoted, ask malky.