Between Thom Haye and Jay Idzes, Who Can Avoid Relegation?

Two key players of the Indonesian national team, Thom Haye and Jay Idzes, share a similar mission after playing two games with "Garuda" this March. Both "leaders" in Patrick Kluivert's squad are determined to prevent their respective clubs from being relegated from the top-tier competition.

Thom plays for Almere City, which is currently ranked 17th in the Eredivisie, the top league in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Jay is with Venezia, still struggling in 19th place in Serie A, the highest competition in the professional football pyramid in Italy.

Referring to the standings, Thom and Jay must work extra hard to lift their team out of the relegation zone. Almere, equivalent to Venezia, is in the second-to-last position in their respective leagues.

Only four days after contributing to Indonesia's 1-0 victory over Bahrain on Tuesday (25/3/2025) at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, Jakarta, Thom and Jay had already played full matches for their respective clubs. Thom helped Almere defeat Willem II Tilburg 2-0 on Saturday (29/3/2025) at Koning Willem II Stadium.

Thom recorded his sixth full match with Almere this season. He also registered his second assist of the season for Almere's second goal, scored by defender Marvin Martins in the 49th minute.

Meanwhile, Jay has further established himself as the most important player in Venezia's squad this season. He served as captain in the match against Bologna at the Pier Luigi Penzo Stadium. Unfortunately, Jay's 29th appearance in Serie A this season ended in a 0-1 defeat. A single goal by Bologna's winger, Riccardo Orsolini, dashed Venezia's ambition to secure points.

Almere has seven matches remaining in the 2024-2025 Eredivisie season to avoid returning to the Eerste Divisie, also known as the Second Division of the Netherlands. In the club's history, Almere secured promotion to the Eredivisie for the first time in the 2022-2023 season.

The first promotion achievement of the team nicknamed "Black Sheep" is a legacy of Alex Pastoor, assistant coach of the Indonesian national team. As a result, this season is Almere's second period in the Eredivisie.

However, the 25-year-old team's ambition to stay in the Dutch top flight is almost impossible. According to Footystats, Almere is included in the "high risk" category of relegation. The probability of Almere ending this season in the red zone reaches 70 percent.

The percentage of degradation given to Almere is the highest of the 18 participants. In fact, the possibility of the Black Sheep squad escaping the threat of relegation (30 percent) is lower than RKC Waalwijk who sits in last place until week 27, which is 35 percent.

With just 18 points from 27 games, Almere are six points behind 16th-placed Willem II. The sixth-placed Eredivisie side will face third-placed Eerste Divisie in a playoff for the final Eredivisie berth next season.

Meanwhile, Almere's distance with the team at the end of the safe zone or 15th place, which is occupied by Heracles, has reached 10 points. With that situation, Thom and his friends must collect as many points as possible to improve their position.

Almere will face three teams occupying the European zone, namely PSV Eindhoven, Go Ahead Eagles, and AZ Alkmaar. They also have a schedule to face four teams of equal quality, namely PEC Zwolle (13th), Heerenven (10), Sparta Rotterdam (15), and Fortuna Sittard (9).

Four of the seven final duels of the season were also held at home, Yanmar Stadium. The last three home games took place consecutively from week 31 to week 33.

Those four games could be Almere's last home games in the Eredivisie before returning to the second tier. The only way to prevent that from happening again is to improve their performance. At the Yanmar Stadium this season, Almere's winning percentage is only 15 percent, while their losses are 69 percent.

Almere only managed eight points at home. The other 10 points were brought home from away games.

We said a few times to go for the win and it finally happened in this game. We have the last chance to collect as many points as possible to get closer (to safety).

Poor home form is also the “scapegoat” for Almere's poor performance in the 2024-2025 season. They only scored an average of 0.77 goals per home game from 1.41 expected goals (xG) per game. Almere's goal has also conceded 2.31 goals per game at home, despite only recording 1.6 xG against per match.

Thom said the victory over Willem II was a momentum for his team to close the gap with rivals. He said the Almere squad would fight to avoid playing in the second tier in the 2025-2026 campaign competition.

"We said a few times to go for the win and it finally happened in this game. We had the last chance to collect as many points as possible to get closer," Thom told ESPN Netherlands after the match.

Meanwhile, the defeat from Bologna made Venezia fail to approach Lecce who are in 17th place or the last position of the safe zone. The distance between the two teams remains five points. After playing the 30th game, Venezia has only collected 20 points.

In the second half of the season, Venezia had a good period when they achieved four consecutive draws. Three of the teams they faced were even top teams, namely Napoli, Atalanta, and Lazio.

However, Venezia have yet to win a game since the turn of the year. The last positive result was recorded in a home game against Cagliari, December 22, 2024.

Venezia's home form has been quite good. All three of their wins have come in front of their own supporters.

Jay and friends scored 14 points at home, while they only recorded six points from six draws in away games.

In the remaining eight games, Venezia will face four tough away games. They will host Monza, followed by three teams fighting for European tickets, namely AC Milan, Fiorentina, and Juventus.

Venezia also have four away games that could present traps. They will play at the home of Lecce, Empoli, Torino, and Cagliari.

Footystatsdoes not yet consider Venezia a team with great potential for relegation. The probability of Venezia appearing in Serie B 2025-2026 is 57 percent or in the assessment of "medium risk". There are at least three other teams that are considered to have a greater risk of relegation, although all three teams are outside the relegation zone.

They are Lecce (ranked 17th) who are covered by a 70 percent chance of relegation, then Cagliari (#15) with 62 percent and Hellas Verona (#14) who are considered to have a 79 percent chance of being relegated.

After the match against Bologna, Jay considered his team's weakness was the lack of sharpness in the attacking line. Jay said, his team created three to four golden opportunities but failed to make the most of them.

"We played well like against Lazio, Napoli and Atalanta, but again, we lacked goals. That's very disappointing," Jay was quoted as saying on the club's website.

"I think the game could have been different if we had scored. Because we didn't give their attackers a chance to create a threat," he added.

Jay's concern is justified. Venezia only scored 0.77 goals per game. That number is below 1.16 xG per game. Venezia's accurate shooting rate is also one of the lowest in Italy at only nine percent.

Before expecting Thom and Jay's return to Jakarta in June, Indonesian national team supporters need to support both of them to help the team avoid the threat of relegation. Although that determination is difficult to achieve, football never tires of presenting surprises.