The J-Talk Podcast

Episode 402 - J1 Season Previews Part 3

With the Super Cup taking place this Saturday, the 2022 J1 season is almost upon us, and we continue our club-by-club previews with five teams whose prospects for the new campaign are very much up in the air.

We begin with Shimizu, who have underwhelmed in recent years, and would dearly love a season of midtable stability (to 19:15), then look at their Shizuoka rivals Iwata, who are returning to the top flight as J2 champions, but lost Lukian, their top scorer, and replaced him with a pair of retread strikers that hardly inspire confidence (to 35:00).

Next we chat about a Nagoya side that appear to be on the slide and will have to find their feet under a new manager (to 47:45), then finish down in Kyushu by first checking in on Tosu, who have been stripped of practically all of their goalscorers from 2021, and their best defender, but always seem to find a way (to 1:05:40), and wrap up with Fukuoka, who have added to their attacking weapons and appear well equipped to fight off second season syndrome.

Remember to use hashtag #jpred2022 for your JPreds, and follow @JLeague_fantasy for the link to get your J.League Fantasy team set up for the new season.

JTET - J2 2021 Season Review (Part 2)

After languishing in editing hell for a couple of weeks, Jon Steele and Stuart Smith finally put the 2021 J2 season to bed with a retrospective look at the top 12 finishers in the league table. 

There's also some 'soft' preseason preview chat, with more in-depth 2022 preview shows coming this week and next! 

Hope everyone enjoys the episode.

FC Tokyo Kai-Guys Radio Episode 1

Another week, another welcome new addition to the J-Talk family, as we proudly present the inaugural episode of FC Tokyo Kai-Guys Radio, featuring the co-founders of the Kai-Guys: Thomas and Alex.

In their debut pod, the guys review Tokyo's 2021 season (to 23:10), chat about new majority owners mixi (to 29:15), run the rule over the club's winter signings (to 45:30) and new manager Albert Puig (to 54:25), and finish with their expectations for the new campaign.

Episode 401 - Ito Inspires Japan, Cesare Returns, J1 Season Previews Part 2

We begin the episode by discussing another fruitful international break for the Samurai Blue, as Junya Ito's incredible run of form continued to put Japan within touching distance of an automatic World Cup qualification spot (to 16:45).

Then Ben is joined by long time friend of the pod Cesare Polenghi, to chat about the work his company, Ganassa LLC, has been doing with major European leagues, and clubs from across the continent, in expanding their reach on social media (to 59:55).

Then we resume our club-by-club previews of the new J1 season by discussing Sapporo (to 1:14:00), Kashima (to 1:37:30), Urawa (to 1:57:20) and Kashiwa

Tricolore Pridecast January 2022

These fellas don't mess around! Announced on the new pod this week, we proudly present the inaugural Tricolore Pridecast!

This is the series introduction with Jamie, Tony, and Stuart from Tricolore Pride, in which they talk about how they started to follow Marinos, favourite players and goals, and then proceed to run through the 2021-22 winter transfer window, chatting about new signings and leavers up until Dec 31st.

Episode 400 - J1 Season Previews Part 1

While we did consider a 400 minute podcast for Episode 400, you'll have to settle for this 110 minute blockbuster, as we kick off our team-by-team previews of the 2022 J1 season and make a couple of huge announcements along the way.

Stuart Woodward is first cab off the rank and shares his thoughts on how last year's second-placed finishers Yokohama F.Marinos are shaping up for the new campaign (to 32:30), then Thomas Pennington makes his J-Talk debut to chat about brighter times ahead for FC Tokyo under new Spanish coach Albert Puig (to 1:04:50).

Next we run the rule over Shonan, who have reason for optimism after a decent winter in the transfer market (to 1:19:45), and then wrap up our first group of clubs with the defending champions, the juggernaut, Kawasaki (to 1:42:42). Finally we finish off the episode by looking at the Japan squad selected for the World Cup qualifiers against China and Saudi Arabia.

JTET - J3 Season Review (Part 3)

After a just-long-enough year-end break, Mike Innes and Jon Steele reconvened to finish off their comprehensive review of the J3 season by looking at the bottom 6 sides from the 2021 league table.

The gents discussed positives for Fujieda, Imabari, and Hachinohe... and did their best to do the same for Tottori, Numazu and Sanuki!

Hope everyone enjoys the show - many thanks for all of your support for JTET, and 'J-Talk: Short Corner', last season!

Episode 399 - Winter Window Roundup

Happy new season! In our first episode of the new year, we begin with some major transfers from the J.League to Europe - highlighted by Celtic's triple swoop - and elsewhere in Asia (to 18:30), before moving on to talk about a number of players who have left the four relegated teams and found new top flight homes (to 37:30). We finish with a check of the ACL group stage draw, and ponder Hajime Moriyasu's thoughts as he gets set to announce his next Japan squad.

JTET - J2 Season Review (Part 1)

With the dust now fully settled on the 2021 J2 season, James Taylor joined Jon Steele for the first installment of the JTET Season Review for Japan's second tier.

James and Jon covered the bottom 10 sides from the final standings, starting with the four relegated sides, and ending on a more positive note discussing mid-table safety for Akita, Tochigi and Yamaguchi.

Enjoy the show - Part 2 (covering the top 12 sides from the final table) is coming soon!

JTET - J3 Season Review (Part 2)

Typical, isn't it? You wait ages for a JTET episode, then two come along at once!

For Part 2 of our J3 Season Review (recorded on Christmas Day), Mike Innes & Jon Steele took a look at the teams finishing from 6th to 9th in the 2021 J3 table. 

There was a stellar performance from Yuki Stalph's YSCC, but disappointing campaigns for Gifu, Kagoshimaand Nagano.

Enjoy the show!