Nottingham Forest great Stuart Pearce insists manager Steve Cooper shouldn't be under pressure.

Cooper is facing down doubters ahead of Saturday's clash with Everton.

"Personally, no," Pearce told Nottinghamshire Live when asked if Cooper should be under pressure. "I've seen how he's united the football club. In regard to the fans, I think the fans have got his backing, which is brilliant to see and to be fair I think the way the away games certainly have panned out too, the difficulty of the away games.

"I think where they are in the division at the moment they are probably three points short of having a decent start to the season or the perception of a decent start to the season. They're nowhere near the relegation zone. I don't think Forest have been anywhere near there since the season started in the summer, so I think the club are still on an upward spot and I think Steve Cooper is.

"He's still trying to bed in new players. I mean how he deals with some of them with the amount of players that have come in over the last couple of seasons has been nothing short of sensational. So I still think he's dealing with that again. Don't forget Brennan [Johnson] left as well which will affect him. He was a big player for Forest and has been for a couple of years."