The J-Talk Podcast

A busy week in Fukuoka, goals aplenty for Nagasaki, blue and white at the summit and the best players in J2 - Stuart Smith and Jon Steele take you on a guided tour of J2 in the debut of J-Talk: Extra Time.

Follow us on twitter:

Stuart - @sushi_football

Jon - @J2KantoBites

This week's episode features a full review of J1 Matchday 14 with Sam Robson and Ryan Steele.

We begin with FC Tokyo increasing their lead at the top of the table to six points after a 3-1 home win over Oita on Saturday, a performance lit up by Takefusa Kubo, who turned on the style in what may turn out to be his final Gasmen appearance, while we also ponder whether Oita's pixie dust might have finally started to run out (to 20:50). Ryan then discusses the managerial change at Urawa, with Oswaldo Oliveira shown the door last week, before moving on to Reds snatching a point at the death away at Kawasaki on Saturday night (to 38:00).

We then move on to Yokohama zipping up to third with a 2-1 away win in the Kanagawa Derby at Shonan on Friday night, and ponder whether Ange Postecoglou's side might finally be hitting a consistent vein of form a year and a half into his tenure (to 52:10), before we move on to the most shocking result of the week - then-bottom Sendai stunning suddenly wobbly Nagoya (to 58:30).

Next we cover the 1-0 wins for Sapporo (at home over Hiroshima) and Cerezo Osaka (away at a Torres-less Tosu), before wrapping up the matchday with the three 1-1 draws, and a discussion on the logjam at the foot of the table, with five teams 'joint-bottom' on 13 points.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Sam - @FRsoccerSam

Ryan - @Steelinho

And keep your eyes on your podcast feed for the first episode of J-Talk: Extra Time, our new J2-centred pod co-hosted by Stuart Smith and Jon Steele will be dropping on Wednesday.

This week's episode features our original two guests, Sean Carroll and Alan Gibson, back together, as we run through all of the games from J1 Matchday 13, while Stuart Smith makes a special cameo at the end of the pod, with a very special announcement.

We begin our top flight wrap in Osaka, where leaders FC Tokyo suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of Cerezo (to 9:45), before we move on to Nagoya and Oita blowing their chances to make up ground on The Gasmen, with Kawasaki leap-frogging both of them into second with their away win over Trinita (to 28:00).

From there we run through the other games, including big home wins for Yokohama and Kobe, before finishing up with our first relegation six-pointer of the season, with Shimizu sending Sendai to the cellar after a rollicking 4-3 win (to 1:30:26).

Stuart follows with some terrific news, that I won't spoil here.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Sean - @seankyaroru

Alan - @JSoccerMagazine

Stuart - @sushi_football

This week's episode features a full review of J1 Matchday 12, with Dan Orlowitz leading off, and Stuart Woodward and Lionel Piguet also guesting, both for the first time in 2019.

And we had to rip up the script in Part 1, because even though Dan went to two different games over the weekend, we simply had to begin with events at Saitama Stadium last Friday night, after one of the most egregious refereeing decisions in J.League history cost Shonan a goal at 2-0 down away at Urawa, but Bellmare showed remarkable spirit to fight back and win 3-2 with the last kick of the game. The moment itself, the aftermath and if Reds should have done 'the right thing', and a wider chat about DAZN's impact on the way the league is presented and discussed is all in there (to 27:40). We then move on to chat about the two games Dan attended, FC Tokyo winning again and going six points clear after Nagoya played out a 1-1 draw at Kawasaki, while third placed Oita also drew 1-1, at home against new cellar-dwellers Shimizu (to 44:55).

Then in Part 2 Stuart chats about Yokohama clicking back into gear with a convincing 4-1 home win over Kobe, a quality performance after their disappointing display away at Cerezo Osaka last week. Stuart also shares his thoughts on Kobe, and briefly updates us on how ex-Marinos midfielder Kosuke Nakamachi is getting on over in Zambia (to 1:11:57).

And finally in Part 3, Lionel is a happy man after Gamba ended a run of seven games without a win with a 1-0 triumph over Cerezo in the Osaka Derby. We also chat about the next crop of youngsters rolling off the Gamba production line, before Lionel shares his thoughts on Kobe spiraling out of control, and we finish with the other three games from Matchday 12.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Dan - @aishiterutokyo

Stuart - @stuartcw

Lionel - @lionelpiguet

The J-Talk Podcast is now on Patreon - patreon.com/jtalkpod

This week's episode features a full review of J1 Matchday 11 with Alex Bishop, Neil Debnam and Alan Gibson.

In Part 1 Alex chats about top flight table toppers FC Tokyo after their Takefusa Kubo-inspired 1-0 home win over Iwata on Sunday (to 19:00), while we also discuss Nagoya and Oita, who stayed four points behind The Gasmen with wins of their own - Grampus at home over Urawa, and Trinita away at Shonan (to 26:00).

Then Neil joins me after Kawasaki's strong recent run continued with a comprehensive 4-0 win at Shimizu, whose manager Jan Jonsson paid the price for his side's poor start to the season and was sacked after the game (to 45:45). Things aren't going all Frontale's way in the ACL though, and we move on to wrap up last midweek's group stage Matchday 5 results, with Hiroshima through to the last 16, and the other three Japanese clubs all still in with a chance of making it (to 53:22).

Finally Alan chats about the mixed fortunes for the three Kansai clubs in Matchday 11 - the good, the shocking, and the downright diabolical - Cerezo Osaka's excellent Kota Mizunuma-inspired 3-0 home win over Yokohama (to 1:00:00), Gamba's dismal loss at bottom club Tosu, and how much of a leash Tsuneyasu Miyamoto will be given in the Gamba hot seat (to 1:12:45), and Kobe managing just one shot over 90 minutes in their sixth straight loss, 1-0 at home against Kashima, along with all the drama behind the scenes at the Noevir Stadium club (to 1:27:50). We finish off the episode by wrapping up the other two games: Sendai leaving it late to beat Hiroshima 2-1 at home, and the goalless draw between Matsumoto and Sapporo.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Alex - @Abishop32

Neil - @frontalerabbit

Neil's Frontale Rabbit blog

Alan - @JSoccerMagazine

Alan's website - JSoccer.com

The J-Talk Podcast is now on Patreon - all support is greatly appreciated as we say goodbye to monthly upload limits, and take the podcast forward - patreon.com/jtalkpod

Chances are you have already listened to this episode, originally posted at the beginning of April, but if for whatever reason you haven't, and need to binge old episodes of the pod to catch up on the 2019 J1 season, I'm reposting it. This episode was the casualty of the five Tuesday April that meant I had to delete one pod in order to post our first April J2 Special pod at the end of the month. Upload limits and all that - the reason we are now on Patreon.

Ryan Steele guests to chat about Urawa 1-1 FC Tokyo from Matchday 5 (to 23:05), Alan Gibson reviews a brighter time for Vissel Kobe - their 4-3 away win over Gamba Osaka - and many of the other games from the round, as well as Japan's most recent friendlies (to 1:13:30), and Neil Debnam returns after Kawasaki had posted their first win of the new season away at Matsumoto.

#Also experimenting for the first time with ads on Podbean, this repost is a perfect opportunity to do so.#

On this terrific new episode of J-Talk Sean Carroll and Sam Robson review J1 Matchday 10, and we chat about the major top flight storylines almost a third of the way through the season.

We begin with the top three - FC Tokyo continue to lead the way despite a goalless draw at Gamba Osaka on Saturday, with Nagoya (held away at Shonan) and Oita (comfortable home winners over troubled Tosu) leading the chasing pack.

Next we move on to the rest of the teams in the top half of the table, with Kawasaki lurking ominously, Sapporo and Yokohama well placed after a fruitful Golden Week, and the other three ACL clubs struggling to hit consistent form, with a chat about Kobe (not quite as wonky as Tosu but in serious disarray) thrown in here too after their dismal loss at Sapporo on Saturday.

The final part of the podcast looks ahead to this week's ACL (& Levain Cup) fixtures, before we finish with Cerezo Osaka's away win over Matsumoto.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Sean - @seankyaroru

Sam - @FRsoccerSam

The J-Talk Podcast is now on Patreon - all support is greatly appreciated. For more information please visit patreon.com/jtalkpod

Gabriele Anello was kind enough to feature the podcast on J.League Regista, our Q & A can be found here.

It wouldn't be a J-Talk J2 Special without Stuart Smith and Jon Steele sharing their thoughts on the second tier, so in this, our second episode of the week, we give the people what they want. And whether they know it or not, the people want an hour of the dynamic duo riffing on the movers and shakers in the league two months - a quarter of the way - into this 42 game marathon.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Stuart - @sushi_football

Jon - @J2KantoBites

To round out the Heisei Era, and welcome in the new Emperor, we're going large for all you J2 aficionados out there: Two April J2 Special episodes for the price of one, and all the second tier chatter you need.

This is Part 1, with Stuart Smith riding shotgun throughout as we chat in-depth with three terrific guests. First cab is Steve Fryer on Omiya's tremendous surge up the table (to 23:35), then Geoff Osborne returns to discuss goings-on at FC Ryukyu (to 45:05), and we wrap things up with first time guest Nick Bolton, who brings the knowledge on Kyoto.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Stuart - @sushi_football

Steve - @ardija01talk

Geoff - @OkinawaOzzy

Nick - @UkSangaUltra

Scott McIntyre guests for a full review of J1 Matchday 8.

We begin with the top of the table clash in Hiroshima last Friday night, as FC Tokyo went three points clear at the summit thanks to a moment of magic from Diego Oliveira, then we move on to the other game from Friday as Kawasaki won at home for the first time this season in a Kanagawa derby against Shonan (to 15:47).

Next we cover home wins for Nagoya, Sapporo, Kashima and Matsumoto (to 48:18), before finishing with more upheaval at Kobe and another underwhelming weekend for the three Kansai clubs.

Follow Scott on twitter - @mcintinhos

Check out The Asian Game podcast, featuring Scott and Paul Williams.