The J-Talk Podcast

Episode 290 - J1 Matchday 27 & Kubo Update

In this week's episode we get back to (J1) business, with Ryan Steele and Alex Bishop guesting to chat about the key results at either end of the top flight table, while Adrian Serna stops by too, to fill us in on Takefusa Kubo's progress in Spain with Mallorca.

In Part 1 Ryan and I begin with Urawa's mad September, before moving on to one of the maddest games of the season - Reds's thrilling and controversy-laden 3-3 draw away at fellow strugglers Tosu on Saturday. From there we move on to talk about some other results for #RelegationDogfight protagonists, including Shimizu's shellacking of Shonan, and Gamba's limp display in the Osaka Derby (to 34:49).

Then Adrian hops on board to discuss how Kubo has settled in at Mallorca in what looks set to be a long season for his loan side, while we also check in on how Shinjis Kagawa and Okazaki, as well as Takashi Inui, are faring in the second division. And before I let Adrian go I had to get his thoughts on the big change at Nagoya, with Yahiro Kazama sacked as coach and replaced by Massimo Ficcadenti (to 59:00).

Finally Alex guests to review a disappointing performance from top flight leaders FC Tokyo away at second from bottom Matsumoto on Sunday, while we also cover the Kashima and Yokohama draws from Saturday that had opened the door for The Gasmen to re-establish a decent buffer at the top - an opportunity wasted after a 0-0 draw.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Ryan - @Steelinho

Adrian - @758Bruns

Alex - @Abishop32

Alex's FC Tokyo English account

Enjoying the podcast? Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Support from our patrons enables us to do specials like our Groundhopping episode from last week, as well as Extra Time, hosted by Stuart Smith and Jon Steele.

Episode 289 - Groundhopping Special Teaser

The idea was hatched after we launched on Patreon, and finally on Tuesday night Stuart Woodward and Chris Hough joined me for the first of our Patreon-only Groundhopping specials.

In this free teaser, Stuart and Chris chat about Gamba Osaka's home, Panasonic Stadium Suita, covering all the essentials you need to know before you go.

To listen to the full episode, with Kobe's Noevir Stadium, Nagano Parceiro's Nagano U Stadium, Matsumoto's atmospheric Alwin, and Sendai's Yurtec Stadium also discussed at length, sign up to support the podcast from as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/jtalkpod.

J-Talk Extra Time: Episode 12 - Take a breather....

You thought it was a quiet weekend in J2? Possibly, but that doesn't stop Jon Steele & Stuart Smith taking over an hour to dissect the happenings, the goals, the fouls, the bad refereeing, the tactics, the players, the pitches, the upcoming weekend....enjoy! 

Stuart - @sushi_football

Jon - @J2KantoBites

Episode 288 - J1 Matchday 26

After the J1 title race was blown wide open in Matchday 26, Sam Robson and Scott McIntyre guested to review the weekend's action.

We lead with Kashima's win over table-toppers FC Tokyo, that reduced The Gasmen's buffer to a single point, before moving on to Yokohama's huge win over Hiroshima, and Kawasaki sinking cellar dwellers Iwata (to a hit of music at 32:41).

Following that we work our way through the other six games, and finish with Scott and Sam giving their thoughts on which clubs currently out of the bottom three are in the most danger with eight games left in the season.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Sam - @FRsoccerSam

Scott - @mcintinhos

J-Talk Extra Time: Episode 11 - J2 Deep Dive

Pour yourself a strong one, sit down in your favourite chair and get comfortable - this is a long one! But it is well worth it! Seemingly unconcerned with time, Jon Steele & Stuart Smith go in depth on the top 6, bottom four, and even find time to talk J3 AND JFL. Enjoy!!

Comments are always welcome:

@J2KantoBites

@sushi_football

Episode 287 - Japan's Road To Qatar Begins

The Samurai Blue returned from Yangon with all three points following Tuesday's World Cup qualifier against Myanmar, and Dan Orlowitz and Alan Gibson guested to review the game. We also touch on last week's friendly win over Paraguay (to 35:18), before moving on to the Levain Cup 1/4 finals, then look ahead to a pivotal weekend in J1, with the fixture list highlighted by the top two squaring off in Kashima and a Loser Leaves Town match in Yokohama.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Dan - @aishiterutokyo

Dan's archive at The Japan Times (congrats on a brilliant first year!)

Alan - @jsoccermagazine

The JSoccer Magazine Patreon page

 

J-Talk Extra Time: Episode 10 - Weekend Primer

It's all good in the hood as Stuart Smith & Jon Steele tell you what you need to know, what you don't need to know and everything in between about this weekend's J2 slate. 

*Recording note - the mic at Stuart's end wasn't working so he had to use the computer's internal mic and that means the audio quality isn't perhaps what it should and might sound a bit "tinny". Please bear with it.

Episode 286 - J1 Matchday 25

On this week's episode we welcome Sam Robson and Sean Carroll back to the pod for a full review of J1 Matchday 25 and a look ahead to Japan's two upcoming fixtures, while also addressing questions from listeners via twitter.

Part 1 begins with away wins for the top two FC Tokyo and Kashima, while we also discuss Yokohama keeping pace with a win of their own before taking a slight detour in answering a question from Andrew, one of our Patreon supporters (to 40:20).

Part 2 kicks off with a look at Ryotaro Meshino's loan move from Manchester City to Hearts of the Scottish Premier League (to 49:45), then covers Hiroshima moving above Kawasaki into fourth, and segues on to Sanfrecce's latest victims, Iwata and the rest of the relegation dogfight (to a hit of music at 1:10:16), with our J1 roundup running to 1:27:45 before we finish with a look at the Japan squad ahead of games against Paraguay and Myanmar.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Sean - @seankyaroru

Sam - @FRsoccerSam

Enjoying J-Talk, and our spin-off, Extra Time? Please consider supporting the pod(s) on Patreon at patreon.com/jtalkpod

Episode 285 - J1 Catch-Up & Matchday 24

And we're back! After a month away, J-Talk returns with Scott McIntyre rounding up all of the major storylines from J1, along with a full review of the weekend's Matchday 24, with guest contributions from Stuart Woodward and Neil Debnam.

In Part 1 we touch on some of the big news stories while the pod was away, and move on to Matchday 24 draws for the top two - FC Tokyo having to setlle for a point in the first game of their eight game road trip up in Sapporo, and Kashima also pegged back, at home against Gamba Osaka (to 25:22).

Then Stuart joins us to chat about Yokohama's ordinary stretch, that was snapped in style with a thumping win away at Nagoya on Saturday (to 47:47), and Neil searches for answers after two-time defending champions Kawasaki's run of five games without a win (to 1:10:48), before Scott and I round up the other five games, ending with Kobe's demolition job on Tosu in Fernando Torres's final match.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Scott - @mcintinhos

Stuart - @stuartcw

Neil - @frontalerabbit

J-Talk Extra Time: Episode 9 - V-Varen Nagasaki

In a special podcast, Stuart is joined by Daniel Hartmann (aka @LakerByNature and/or @V_Varen_en) to discuss the somewhat confusing season that V-Varen Nagasaki are having. Also, he talks about how he came to be a J.League / Nagasaki supporter. A really interesting talk, and one I'm sure that will resonate with a lot of foreign (as in outside of Japan) listeners. 

 

Big thanks to Daniel, and you can follow him via:

@LakerByNature

@V_Varen_en