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Danny Blind watches from the sidelines at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night. Gary Carr/INPHO
looking ahead

'Third place in the group can be enough' - Dutch boss on Ireland's Euro hopes

Danny Blind said his side took 60 minutes to reach “an acceptable level” at the Aviva Stadium.

Updated at 00.44

HOLLAND BOSS DANNY Blind has suggested “third place” could be Ireland’s best hope of progress in their Euro 2016 group after watching his side draw 1-1 with the Boys in Green at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night.

Blind was also heavily critical of his side’s performance, calling it “disappointing” and bemoaning the lack of aggression in their play.

“We lost the ball too often and too quickly,” Blind said. “It took us 60 minutes to reach an acceptable level. We didn’t have put enough pressure on in an attacking sense.”

However, Blind said his side improved after Watford winger Steven Berghuis replaced Manchester United’s Memphis Depay just after the hour mark, while other changes followed.

24-year-old Berghuis has made just nine Premier League appearances since joining Watford last summer, however the Dutch manager suggested his arrival helped change the game, culminating in Luuk de Jong’s 85th-minute equaliser.

“After the substitutions, we grew into the game,” he said

We’ve been training very good and hard, but in the first 60 minutes, we were not aggressive enough.

“At half-time, I truly believed we could do better.”

Blind added that Ireland were “very dangerous” from set pieces, and when asked about how he thought the Boys in Green would fare at the Euros, he said: “Third place in the group can be enough, so there can be possibilities.”

It was no surprise that Holland’s improvement coincided with the substitution of Memphis Depay, with Blind admitting that the 22-year-old winger was short of his best form currently.

It’s a difficult time for Memphis. He has not had a good season in Manchester.

“It’s a question of confidence and rhythm. He is a good player, and has talent.

“It’s better now I know his situation. Hopefully next season he can show us the things he showed us before in PSV Eindhoven. At this moment, it’s difficult.”

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Northern Ireland blow Belarus away in final home game before Euro 2016>

Here’s how we rated the Boys in Green against the Netherlands tonight>

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