JONATHAN Greening and Geremi have been hailed by manager Steve McClaren after another all-action display from the Middlesbrough pair.

Both players are forming a formidable partnership in the middle of midfield for Boro in the absence of injured George Boateng.

And McClaren has been pleased with how Geremi has settled into life in England after making the season-long loan move from Real Madrid in the summer.

"I thought Geremi was tremendous and so was Jon Greening in the middle," said the Boro chief after his side's 1-0 win over Birmingham City. "Geremi is getting better with every game.

"He has taken time to get used to the hurly-burly of the Premiership, but against Birmingham I thought he was magnificent. He has a great engine, he can run all day and he is a fierce competitor."

On Saturday, Greening continued to show he has also finally found his feet in the Premiership.

Last season the 23-year-old took time to adjust to first-team football after making the switch from Manchester United.

But McClaren believes all the extra training is paying dividends for the hard-working schemer, who has shone for Boro in every match so far in the new campaign.

"Jonathan and Geremi ran every blade of grass," he said. "Jon has benefited from last year when he had a poor season.

"But we always had faith in him and he has come back stronger, he knows the ropes and he now knows his position.

"He gets his foot in and his all-round game has come on. It's down to him, he's got a fantastic attitude towards football and he has got the ability.

"He's been on a weights programme over the summer, he knew he had to do that because it was one of the weaknesses in his game. And now he is looking like a proper midfield player."

Boro climbed into the top six of the top-flight with the battling victory over the Blues, but McClaren still insists there is more to come from his squad.

He added: "It's nice to be in there but all we are concerned about is the performance of the team, which was good. But it's too early to have aspirations of a grand year and finishing there. I think there's still a lot of improvement the team can do."

Meanwhile, Boro striker Szilard Nemeth is expected to be fit for this Saturday's clash with Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

The Slovakian was substituted against Birmingham after feeling his hamstring twinge, but it is not thought to be too serious.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.