The J-Talk Podcast

In a J-Talk first, Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo striker Jay Bothroyd is the guest on this week's podcast.

A completely open book, Jay talks at length on a wide variety of topics, from adjusting to life under a new manager, to his Veganism, the best stadiums in Japan and so much more from Perugia to Iwata, Cardiff to Sapporo Dome's floating pitch.

Thanks to all who posted questions for Jay on twitter - we didn't get to them all, but almost all were addressed at least in passing in conversation.

#AUDIO ISSUE# There was a brief problem with the Skype connection at the 1:00:29 mark of the podcast. I begin asking Jay about Koji Miyoshi, it cuts out, and you hear almost all of Jay's answer.

Cesare Polenghi and Richy Palmer guest on this week's podcast.

In Part 1 (to 51:40) Cesare and I review J1 Matchday 2, and touch on several early-season talking points including:

Hiroshima's return to relevance;

Another gaffe from referee Yuichi Nishimura and Gamba Osaka's early struggles;

Tosu under Massimo Ficcadenti;

Mihael Mikic at Shonan;

And the impact Thai players are having in J1 and what it means about the overall level of the league.

Then in Part 2 Richy previews the new J3 season (to 1:16:55) before we finish the episode with a check on the key results from J2 Matchday 2.

Follow my guests on twitter:

Cesare @CesarePolenghi

Richy @GifuRichy

And follow us @JTalkPod for a big announcement regarding next week's pod!

After the 2018 J.League season got going over the weekend, Neil Debnam, Sam Robson, Alan Gibson and Stuart Smith guested to round it all up.

In Part 1 Neil (in a storming J-Talk debut) discusses what it was like to be there when Kawasaki sealed the J1 title last season, reviews their opening day win at Iwata, and looks ahead at Frontale's prospects for this season (to 31:25).

Then Alan and Sam (together at last!) recap the rest of the games from J1 Matchday 1 (to 1:12:50).

Finally Stuart returns with the pick of the games from the first round of J2.

 

Follow my guests on twitter:

Neil @frontalerabbit

Sam @FRSoccerSam

Alan @JSoccerMagazine

Stuart @sushi_football

 

#Request#

Once again, the audio sounded fine to me volume-wise throughout editing (after significant amplification), but if these issues remain for you please let me know in the comments or on twitter @JTalkPod

With the new J1 season getting underway on Friday night, Sean Carroll and Scott McIntyre guest to preview the new campaign.

We begin with deserved plaudits for Kawasaki and Cerezo Osaka on their first-ever top flight trophies, and celebrate (well, at least two of us do) Urawa for their ACL triumph in a wrap-up of 2017 (to 22:30), before moving on to look ahead at the prospects of all 18 J1 clubs this season. Scott springs a surprise when he unveils his predicted top four, and as we work our way down his predicted table major offseason acquisitions (both on the pitch and in the dugout) are discussed, while in amongst a chat about J.League boyfriends Sean reveals he's just in the friend zone with a certain Kashima midfielder.

#Request# Volume levels sounded better to me throughout the editing process (& in finished mp3) this week, but as with the J2 Preview pod please let me know in the comments or on twitter @JTalkPod if you have any issues with volume level/quality in this episode.

In our first full episode of 2018, Jon Steele and Steve Barme preview the new J2 season.

In Part 1 Jon and I recap the 2017 season (to 21:00), then Steve joins me to discuss Omiya and fellow relegated clubs Kofu and Niigata (to 44:40) before Jon returns to look ahead at the promotion/playoff prospects for last season's top half, and if there are any slivers of hope for teams who finished in the bottom half in the last campaign. We finish by sticking our necks out predicting the end of season top six.

#Apology to Tokyo Verdy supporters# Unfortunately a segment where Jon discussed Verdy's superb rise to fifth last season fell on the cutting room floor, but trust me, he was effusive in his praise.

#Request# I wasn't entirely happy with the audio quality during the editing process, if you found sections of the pod difficult to listen to quality-wise please let me know in the comments, or on twitter @JTalkPod.

A brief teaser to mark the return of the podcast for 2018.

Re-posting our final episode from 2016 to christen the new iTunes feed.