The J-Talk Podcast

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

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

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.

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

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

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

After a brief hiatus (sorry....) J-Talk Extra Time is back with Jon Steele & Stuart Smith going over the key ins and outs in J2. We talk Shunsuke Nakamura, Koji Suzuki, Michael James, Shinji Ono, Machida's struggles, Kashiwa's J2 rampage and much more in between. Enjoy!!

No time wasting controversy here (sorry Koki Kiyotake...) because this J-Talk Extra Time is full to the brim of the latest happenings in J2.

Stuart Smith & Jon Steele take you through the previous weekend's action which included classic hits such as "JEF goalkeeper has a bad game", "Lee Yong-jae scores again" and "Leandro Domingues scores direct from a free kick" alongside new entries like "Sent off for time wasting in the first half".

Download. Listen. Enjoy!

Live (almost) from the cultural capital of Japan, Nick Bolton joins Stuart Smith to chat about the renaissance of Kansai's purple team and along the way discuss the key players, key ideas and prospects for the remainder of the season. Grab yourself an Uji Matcha green tea, a plateful of Yatsuhashi and enjoy!

This week's episode features a full review of the eight games from J1 Matchday 20 played on Saturday with Sam Robson, and a check on Takefusa Kubo's promising start to life at Real Madrid with Adrian Serna.

In Part 1 Sam and I begin with the current top three, after all claimed victories over bottom half opposition - FC Tokyo and Yokohama away at Shimizu and Kobe respectively, and Kashima riding their luck to down Tosu at home (to 28:48).

Then Adrian shares his thoughts on Kubo's early impact at the Spanish giants, with the 18 year old turning heads with his strong performances in training, and in his first appearance for Real in a friendly against Bayern Munich over the weekend, while we also touch on Hiroki Abe's transfer to Barcelona (to 45:19).

Then Sam and I round up the other five Matchday 20 games, including Sapporo thumping five past Shonan, and dramatic finishes at both Matsumoto and Nagoya, while throughout we touch on the performances of players who have moved during the transfer window.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Sam - @FRsoccerSam

Adrian - @758Bruns

#J-Talk will now take a short hiatus, as I take my kids back to Australia for a month, but Extra Time with Stuart and Jon will continue throughout the summer. I'll be back to review J1 Matchday 24 at the end of August.#