The J-Talk Podcast

Episode 477 - J1 Matchday 23

With summer holidays in full swing, Jonny Nicol files solo this week to bring us a full review of last weekend's J1 action (Round 23 of the top-flight season).

In Part 1 (Start to 12:38), Jonny reviews a trio of big games from the Round 23 slate (Kawasaki v Kobe, Yokohama Marinos v Gamba Osaka, and Nagoya v Kashima), as well as revealing his Under-23 Player of the Round.

Then in Part 2 (12:38 to 19:53), Jonny casts his forensic Nicol-vision over three more matches (Kashiwa v Cerezo Osaka, Fukuoka v Yokohama FC, and Niigata v Shonan), and announces his overall Player of the Round.

To finish things off in Part 3 (19:53 to Finish), Jonny talks about Hiroshima v Urawa, FC Tokyo v Kyoto, and Sapporo v Tosu, then gives us an in-depth preview of the forthcoming Round 24 fixtures.

Hope everyone enjoys the pod - special thanks to Jonny for taking time out of his well-earned vacation to record this week!

JTET - J2 Round 29 / J3 Round 21 Review

Summer holidays be damned, JTET is back with another roundup of all the latest news from Japan's J2 and J3 Leagues!

In this episode, we start with a blow-by-blow account of last weekend's J2 action (Round 29 of the season) from James Taylor and Jon Steele (Start to 16:30).

After that, the boys sat down together to review last midweek's Emperor's Cup Round 4 ties that featured a J2 participant, and lavished praise on first-time quarter-finalists Rosso Kumamoto (16:30 to 43:00). 

James and Jon then previewed all of the forthcoming Round 30 fixtures in J2 (43:00 to 51:40).

Then to top things off, Mike 'The Magic' Innes is on hand with 'J-Talk: Short Corner' (51:40 to Finish) - Mike has all of the action from a busy Round 21 slate of J3 matches, and he also previews this weekend's Round 22 fixtures to boot.

Hope everyone enjoys the show, and the summer break!

Episode 476 - J1 Matchday 22

After the short summer break, J1 was back with a vengeance last weekend, and guest host Jonny Nicol is on hand to run us through all of the key points from a busy (and very hot) Matchday 22 in the Japanese top flight.

In Part 1 (Start to 08:45), Jonny reviews four of the weekend fixtures (Shonan v Hiroshima, Nagoya v Niigata, Kashima v Sapporo, and Cerezo Osaka v FC Tokyo), and reveals his pick for Player of the Round.

Then in Part 2 (08:50 to 18:34), Jonny looks back at four more of the Matchday 22 games (Kawasaki v Gamba Osaka, Kyoto v Kashiwa, Tosu v Fukuoka, and Urawa v Yokohama Marinos). Jonny also hands out a gong for Under-23 Player of the Round (and it's a name that JTET listeners will also be familiar with).

To conclude this week's pod, in Part 3 (18:38 to Finish) Jonny sat down for a chat with Jon Steele (nope, me neither). The boys discussed Yokohama FC's home game against Kobe from the weekend, answered a listener question or two, then worked together to preview the upcoming Matchday 23 slate (all games taking place this coming weekend).

Hope everybody enjoys the show!

JTET - J2 Round 28 / J3 Round 20 Review

Once again, the well-oiled (not in an alcoholic sense) JTET machine has produced a full and frank review of all the latest J2 and J3 action from the Japanese professional football scene.

We begin with a blow-by-blow account of the weekend's J2 action, with Jon Steele and James Taylor teaming up to cover all 11 fixtures from Round 28 (Start to 16:15).

After that, Jon had the chance to talk to Victor Arroyo (@JFootballAnaly1 on Twitter) for a deep dive into the Kanazawa v Omiya match (the weekend's big clash at the bottom of the table) - that's from 16:15 to 44:00.

Victor then helped Jon to look ahead to a busy midweek of Emperor's Cup football - all 8 of the Round 4 ties are being played on Wednesday night, so the boys focused on the 4 games that will see a J2 side come up against a J1 opponent in midweek (44:00 to 49:40).

Not content with that, Jon and Victor also previewed all of the coming weekend's J2 matches (Round 29 of the season) - that discussion is from 49:40 to 57:30.

As ever, Mike 'The Magic' Innes is bringing up the rear - he has all of the latest J3 news, reviews, and previews in the 'J-Talk: Short Corner' segment from 57:30 to Finish.

Enjoy the pod, and all of the Japanese football coming up this week!

JTET - J2 Round 27 / J3 Round 19 Review

A bit later than planned this week (sorry!), a bumper JTET is live just in time for the next round of J2 and J3 fixtures.

In this episode, we start with James Taylor and Jon Steele reviewing all of the weekend J2 action (Start to 15:00).

After that, it's 'Two Jonnies' time as Jon Steele sat down with Jonny Nicol (@BlogGamba on Twitter) to cover a veritable smorgasbord of J.League topics.

The Jonnies started off with some J1 chat, covering last weekend's rescheduled Kobe v Kawasaki fixture and some thoughts on the overall state of the top flight at the summer break (16:40 to 30:00). 

The gents then shared some opinions on the latest round of big club summer friendlies to hit Japan, with ticket prices at the top of the agenda (30:00 to 40:00).

After that, the boys shifted gears to talk J2, starting with a deep dive on Gunma and Iwata after their 1-1 draw on Sunday evening (40:00 to 51:00), then a more open-ended chat on the state of J2 in general with 15 rounds left to play (51:00 to 01:00:00). 

Keeping things moving, Jon and Jonny talked about some of the recent eye-catching J2 transfers that have taken place (01:00:00 to 01:10:00), then previewed the upcoming Round 28 matches (01:10:00 to 01:20:00).

With the Jonnies exhausted, Mike 'The Magic' Innes, took control of the show after that for his regularly-scheduled 'J-Talk: Short Corner' mini-pod (01:20:00 to Finish). Mike has all of the reviews from J3 Round 19, plus a look ahead to the upcoming weekend's Round 20 matches.

Thanks for your patience with the slow upload this week - enjoy the episode!

J-Talk: Extra Time – J2 Round 26 & J3 Round 18

There was yet another action-packed weekend in Japan’s second and third tiers, and the JTET team is here to review it all. In part 1, Jon Steele rounds up 5 games from matchday 26 of J2 (to 12:15), and then James Taylor has the rest of the games in part 2 (to 18:30). After that, Jon gave James the chance to get some Kanazawa issues off his chest as well as talk about Sendai (to 47:25), then the guys discussed some transfer news (to 58:50) before taking a look at the upcoming J2 fixtures (to 1:08:00). Finally, the battles at both ends of the J3 table show no signs of letting up, and Mike Innes is on hand to review matchday 18 and preview the next round of games in J-Talk: Short Corner (to end).

Episode 475 - J1 Matchday 21

With J-Talk Pod founder Ben Maxwell heading to Australia for a well-earned summer break, Sam Robson and Jonny Nicol took charge of this week's episode: a full and frank review of all of the weekend action from J1.

In Part 1 (Start to 41:30), the boys talk about all of the key moments from the games at the top of the table, then move on to the bottom of the standings in Part 2 (41:30 to Finish). 

Sam and Jonny round off with a quick update on podcast scheduling as Japan's top tier takes a 3-week break (to allow for some lucrative friendly matches against touring European clubs). 

Hope everyone enjoys the show!

JTET - Emperor’s Cup Round 3 Review

After a busy midweek of Emperor's Cup action, Jon Steele looks back over the twelve games from Round 3 that featured a J2 participant. 

Jon runs you through four victories for J2 teams against more illustrious opponents from J1, and covers the other eight matches (where J2 teams battled valiantly but were ultimately defeated).

There's also a quick preview of this weekend's J2 action (Round 26 of the season) at the end of the pod!

Hope everyone enjoys - Jon and James Taylor should be back with a full review of the weekend J2 action (plus J3 with Mike Innes in 'J-Talk: Short Corner') next week!

JTET - J2 Round 25 / J3 Round 17 Review

After another exciting weekend of J2 and J3 matches, the JTET boys (OK, men) are back in town to bring you up to speed with all of the major talking points.

To kick things off (sorry), Jon Steele reviews all of the J2 action from a hectic Round 25 slate (Start to 18:30). There's also a preview of the midweek Emperor's Cup ties that have a J2 participant (18:30 to 21:30) - all of those games are being played on Wednesday 12th July.

While Jon adopts the recovery position with the lights off and the air conditioner on, Mike 'The Magic' Innes takes over - he has all the key points from J3 Round 17, plus a look ahead to this weekend's Round 18 fixtures, in 'J-Talk: Short Corner' (21:50 to Finish). Mike also has a quick mention for the two J3 sides who will be in Emperor's Cup action this midweek.

Hope everyone enjoys the show, and the midweek cup football! Let's keep it Big and Basic.

Episode 474 - J1 Matchday 20

A matchday that promised so much left us with most of the big questions unanswered following stalemates in the crunch clashes at either end of the table, but still delivered plenty of cracking goals and talking points for us to chew on.

We begin at the Toyota Stadium for the battle of the (then) top two, with both teams taking the lead but then pegged back, Yokohama F.Marinos maintaining their four point buffer over hosts Nagoya (to 14:20), but seeing their lead over (now) second-placed Kobe reduced to three points after Vissel won at Niigata on Friday night. We then round out the top four with Urawa's goalless draw at home against FC Tokyo (to 33:40), before shifting to the foot of the table and the Battle of the Bottom at Hitachidai, and then rounding up the rest of J1 Matchday 20 (to 1:08:05).

We finish the episode with a look ahead to some of the intriguing battles on Wednesday's Emperor's Cup third round slate, and pick out some games to watch in the weekend's Matchday 21.