The J-Talk Podcast

J1 returned after the international break with a brilliant round of matches stacked with talking points.

Our first guest is Chris from J.League Journeys after he and his cohort Lolo headed up to Kashima to see Hiroshima stun Antlers in the last five minutes, and then hung with the Sanfrecce players in the convenience store for a while afterwards (to 20:25).

Next we round up comfortable victories for Kobe, Nagoya and Urawa (to 36:35), before Yokohama FC correspondent Manny Padovan guests after the Sky Blues drew at home with Fukuoka (to 54:25).

In Part 4 we run through the final four games, including that instant classic up at the Sapporo Dome, and Shuto Machino single-handedly putting Gamba Osaka and former teammate Kosei Tani to the sword.

Later than usual this week (due to school holidays - apologies!), the JTET team bring you up to date with another packed week of J2 and J3 action.

In Part 1 (Start to 08:20), James Taylor looks back at all of the J2 action from last Saturday, when six of the Round 6 matches took place. He also casts his discerning gaze over Iwata's game against Sapporo in the Levain Cup.

Then in Part 2 (08:20 to 22:00), Jon Steele covers the rest of the J2 games from Round 6 - three matches from Sunday (plus Urawa v Shimizu in the Levain Cup), and the two Wednesday night games (including a shock home defeat for Shimizu against an impressive Gunma). Jon also takes a brief look at the J2 games on the weekend slate for Round 7.

As usual, Mike 'The Magic' Innes brings us home with 'J-Talk: Short Corner' (22:00 to Finish), reviewing all of the J3 talking points from a very busy Round 4, as well as previewing Round 5.

No guest this week, due to spring holiday scheduling issues, but normal service (alright, as normal as it gets around here) will resume next episode!

Japan got their year started with a couple of friendlies against South American opposition, and while a number of players performed well across the two games, we were left with familiar questions about personnel and formation.

We chat Samurai Blue to 34:15, then look ahead to the return of J1, with a terrific slate of games coming up in Matchday 6.

After some sterling work on the main 'J-Talk Podcast' this season, we were finally able to book J.League expert Jonny Nicol (@BlogGamba) for a JTET appearance this week!

The episode begins with Jon Steele and James Taylor teaming up to review all of the match action from the Round 5 games played in J2 last weekend (Start to 16:40).

After that, Jon sat down with Jonny for the first 'Two Jonnies' chat of 2023, with in-depth discussion of Iwata v Shimizu (16:50 to 27:40) and Oita v JEF Chiba (27:40 to 36:50).

Keenly aware that it could be some time before we're able to pick Jonny's brains on a J2 tip again, Jon pressed him for some overall thoughts on the state of the second tier as well (36:50 to 50:40) - Tochigi supporters might want to skip this bit.

Jonny then exacted instant revenge by asking Jon about which J2 players could find themselves on the fringes of the Japan national team squad this time next year (50:40 to 01:00:15).

To finish off the chat, the Jonnies previewed the upcoming J2 games in Round 6, with a pair of Levain Cup matches for Iwata and Shimizu thrown in for good measure (01:00:15 to 01:09:35).

After all that, the pod concludes, as ever, with another superb edition of 'J-Talk: Short Corner' from Mike 'The Magic Innes' (01:09:35 to Finish) - Mike talks us through a fascinating weekend of action in J3 (Round 3), and looks ahead to the Round 4 games coming up soon.

Hope everyone enjoys the episode - arigato gozaimasu to all guests, contributors, and listeners!

With no teams winning for the first time this season in the weekend's Matchday 5, we begin this episode by chatting about the three hottest teams in J1 - Urawa and Kyoto making it three straight wins over Niigata and Yokohama FC respectively, and Fukuoka now four unbeaten after their late, late show at home over Shonan (to 22:35).

In Part 2 we cover the one-sided wins for Hiroshima and Kobe, and Yokohama F.Marinos' home victory over Kashima that featured another nomination for own goal of the month (to 41:20), before we finish the J1 wrap with the three draws (to 59:15) and then have an extended discussion on Hajime Moriyasu's first post-World Cup squad.

James Taylor and Jon Steele are back together for a review of J2 matchday 4. Part 1 sees James’ review of Shimizu and Iwata in Levain Cup action and the J2 Saturday matches, and part 2 has Jon’s roundup of Sunday’s matches. In part 3 James and Jon talked about Yamaguchi v Kumamoto, Shimizu v Oita and Sendai v Iwaki, then took a quick look ahead to round 5. Mike Innes describes all the action from round 2 of J3 in J-Talk: Short Corner.

 

00:00 to 06:05 Levain Cup & Saturday roundup (James)

06:05 to 17:25 Sunday roundup (Jon)

17:25 to 23:45 Yamaguchi v Kumamoto

23:45 to 29:05 Shimizu v Oita

29:05 to 35:20 Sendai v Iwaki

35:20 to 42:05 Matchday 4 preview

42:05 to end J-Talk: Short Corner (Mike)

Jonny Nicol returned to the pod for a full rundown of J1 Matchday 4, beginning with Gamba Osaka's heartbreaking late loss to Hiroshima, who notched their first win of the season. Then we move on to Sapporo and Cerezo Osaka, who also tasted victory for the first time in the new top flight campaign (to 32:25).

Next Nagoya and Niigata continued their fine starts to the season, Urawa and Kyoto won for the second straight week, FC Tokyo bounced back from their miserable showing in Kyoto, and we finish with the lone draw on the Matchday 4 slate, a goalless affair up in Kashima.

Once again, the JTET crew are here to look back on a busy weekend of J2 and J3 action.

In Part 1, Jon Steele picks over the key points from Saturday's J2 matches (Start to 07:00), before James Taylor does similar for the Sunday fixtures in Part 2 (07:00 to 13:15).

After that, Jon sat down with brand new guest Lewis to discuss Tokyo Verdy's mixed start to 2023 (13:15 to 36:30), and the boys also previewed the forthcoming Round 4 matches (36:30 to 43:00) - there's also a very brief mention for Shimizu and Iwata's Levain Cup campaigns, which get underway this midweek.

To round off the episode, Mike 'The Magic' Innes is back and banging in his 'J-Talk: Short Corner' mini-pod (43:00 to Finish) - Mike has the lowdown on a thrilling opening round of J3 fixtures, as well as a preview of Round 2.

Hope everyone enjoys the show - you can find Lewis on Twitter @illusionofease!

J1 Matchday 3 wasn't quite as eventful as its two predecessors, but with two big derbies on the slate there was never going to be a shortage of talking points.

In Part 1 of this episode (to 32:40) Alan Gibson from JSoccer Magazine joins to chat about Kobe maintaining their perfect start to the season as they swept to victory over Gamba Osaka in the Kansai Derby.

In Part 2 we cover first victories of the season for Urawa, Kyoto and Tosu (to 51:45), then Kashima and Fukuoka making it two wins from three (to 1:05:25), before we chat about the three draws from the weekend, and look ahead to J1 Matchday 4.

James Taylor and Jon Steele teamed up to talk about round 2 of the J2 season. In part 1 James reviews the Saturday matches, and in part 2 Jon takes you through Sunday’s games. In part 3 James and Jon discuss JEF United v Yamagata, Fujieda v Nagasaki and Machida v Gunma, then preview the fixtures in round 3.

 

00:00 to 05:40 Saturday roundup (James)

05:40 to 16:05 Sunday roundup (Jon)

16:05 to 22:40 JEF United v Yamagata

22:40 to 30:40 Fujieda v Nagasaki

30:40 to 36:10 Machida v Gunma

36:10 to end Matchday 3 preview