The J-Talk Podcast

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

We all thought the madness of J1 Matchday 1 would take some topping, well, the second round kicked off on Friday night, and Shonan vs Yokohama FC set the tone for another incredible top flight matchday.

We begin our roundup with the three teams who won for the first time this season: Kawasaki, in that epic VAR-controversy-laden encounter up in Kashima; Niigata, who turned on the style in Hiroshima; and Fukuoka, who left it late at home against Cerezo Osaka (to 32:50).

In Part 2 we chat about the three teams a perfect two wins from two: Yokohama F.Marinos, Kobe and Nagoya (to 48:55), and then finish with the three draws, including the fantastic Kanagawa derby that got the matchday rolling on Friday Night Football.

With the new J3 season kicking off this weekend, Mike 'The Magic' Innes (venerated creator and host of the 'J-Talk: Short Corner' mini-pod) is back with a fourth and final in-depth preview episode, bringing us up to speed with the five remaining clubs in the third tier for 2023. 

Mike also cast his expert eye over the opening weekend's fixtures in his Round 1 Preview.

Thank you for all of the listener questions for this one - hope everyone enjoys the episode, and the brand spanking new J3 campaign!

Timecodes:

01:10 to 05:00 - Ehime FC

05:00 to 08:30 - Giravanz Kitakyushu

08:35 to 12:10 - Tegevajaro Miyazaki

12:10 to 15:55 - Kagoshima United

16:00 to 19:30 - FC Ryukyu

20:30 to Finish - J3 Round 1 Preview

The 2023 J2 season finally got underway last weekend, so James Taylor and Jon Steele joined forces to review all the action and discuss some of the main talking points from the opening round. First, James rounded up Saturday’s games, then Jon did the same for Sunday. After that, James and Jon talked about Iwaki v Fujieda, Iwata v Okayama, and Tokushima v Oita, before finishing the episode with a brief look ahead to round 2.

 

00:00 to 09:10 Saturday roundup (James)

09:10 to 17:00 Sunday roundup (Jon)

17:00 to 24:15 Iwaki v Fujieda

24:15 to 33:00 Iwata v Okayama

33:00 to 42:50 Tokushima v Oita

42:50 to end Matchday 2 preview

The new top flight season kicked off on Friday night, and Stuart Woodward and Alex Bishop guest to help us round it all up.

We begin with surprise leaders Shonan, who rode a Yuki Ohashi hat trick to a VAR-assisted 5-1 away thumping of Tosu (to 13:45), before Stuart hops on board to chat about Yokohama F.Marinos's victory in the battle of last season's top two (to 34:30).

Then Alex joins to discuss FC Tokyo's victory over Urawa (to 49:50), before we wrap up wins for Kashima, Nagoya and Kobe (to 1:06:40) and finish with the three draws from Saturday, and look ahead to the Matchday 2 slate.