Jason Cundy calls Nicolas Jackson an 'absolute disgrace' after scenes in Aston Villa loss vs Nottingham Forest

Jason Cundy has tore into Nicolas Jackson after his Aston Villa exploits against Nottingham Forest.

The 25-year-old opened his Villa goalscoring account against Club Brugge in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

As a result, many Villa fans were optimistic he could follow that up with another big performance against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the case, as the Senegalese international was hooked at half-time by Unai Emery.

A lot of pressure and responsibility is on Jackson's shoulders to replace Ollie Watkins' goals and all-round impact moving forward.

However, Cundy fears that one supposed element of his game could threaten to severely limit his ability to do so.

What 'problem' does Jason Cundy think Nicolas Jackson has?

As aforementioned, Jackson's 45 minutes against Nottingham Forest will be ones he will wish to forget.

Despite showing industry and endeavour with his movement and willingness to run, the striker simply wasn't in the game.

He also picked up a yellow card on the stroke of half-time, which helped make up Emery's mind when it came to bringing him off at the break.

Speaking via talkSPORT, Cundy has blasted Jackson for his lack of discipline, claiming that this is an ongoing problem the striker has.

"Let me tell you now, I promise you now, Nicolas Jackson's discipline is an absolute disgrace," he said.

"I watched him pick up red and yellow cards for fun, right, he won't learn. He has a discipline problem.

"The thing with Jackson, he will pick up a yellow card not for a tackle, he'll pick it up for saying something to the referee, pulling someone's shirt, kicking the ball away. All of that.

"Not when you put in a mistimed tackle and you think 'right okay I've got that one wrong', not him.

"His ill-discipline is terrible, terrible. Maybe that's it. Maybe that's why Unai Emery has gone 'right, I'm not having that, I've warned you. Off."

So, what do the underlying numbers show about Jackson's discipline, and why does it paint such a frustrating picture?

Why Jackson is so close to ending ill-discipline issue

There's few things more infuriating as a football fan than seeing one of your team's players picking up pointless bookings.

It hurts the team, and seen via Emery's actions against Forest, can often mean tactical plans have to be scrapped to protect against red cards.

Why there is so much frustration surrounding Jackson in this regard is through what Cundy said about him not being booked for general fouls.

As per FotMob, Jackson has actually only committed one foul across his three Premier League appearances so far this season.

In the Bundesliga last term, he committed 15 fouls in 23 games, again a respectable average, but he was shown two yellows and one red card.

Going back to his 2023-24 season in the Premier League, he was shown a whopping 10 yellow cards from his 28 fouls that term and was booked eight times from 35 fouls in 2024-25.

Clearly then, there are then signs of improvement in Jackson's discipline over the last few seasons.

His booking for a petty shove on Ousmane Diomande against Forest, however, shows he's not there yet.