The J-talk Podcast

With Ben enjoying a well earned break back in Australia, Sam Robson made a welcome return to the pod. Together, Sam and Jonny took an in-depth look at all the drama and talking points from Round 25 of the 2025 J1 season. Time stamps as follows:  Start - 03:03 Emperor’s Cup wrap / Kunishige Kumamoto tribute  03:03 - 1:34.15 Round 25 Review  1:34.15 - End Round 26 Preview  Thanks again for all your support!

After a long break between drinks, it's time for another JTET 'Two Jonnies' takeover! In Part 1 of this episode, Jon Steele runs though all of the key talking points from Round 24 of the J2 season. After that, Jon is joined by Jonny Nicol (on loan from Big Pod) for a deep dive on Kumamoto's home win over Mito, plus a chat about the state of J2 with 14 rounds left to go in 2025. Jonny also weighed in on all of the usual segments, and helped Jon to preview this weekend's Round 25 slate. Hope everyone enjoys the pod! Timestamps: Start to 13:30 - J2 Round 24 Round-Up 13:40 to 25:30 - Kumamoto v Mito in-depth 25:30 to 31:00 - Most Bravo Player chat 31:00 to 45:30 - Jonny talks about the top half of the J2 table (focus on Iwata) 45:30 to 57:00 - The bottom half of the J2 table 57:00 to Finish - J2 Round 25 Preview

In a 35-minute JTET bonus episode, Jon Steele borrowed Jonny Nicol from Big Pod for a long-overdue 'Two Jonnies' reunion chat! The focus this time is on the summer friendly matches that have taken place across Japan during late July and early August. First of all, Jon runs through the results from the games that involved Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Sociedad, and State Reims. After that, the Two Jonnies compare notes on their experiences (at Yokohama FC v Sociedad and Gamba Osaka v Reims respectively), and comment on the overall slate of summer matches from 2025. We hope everyone enjoys the pod!

After a summer break, the JTET boys are back with a 15-minute mini-pod to clean deck before J2 returns! This time, James and Jon look back at Round 3 of the Emperor's Cup (held on 16th July) from a J2 perspective. Recording solo, James covers 5 of the pertinent matchups, with Jon (also in isolation this time) talking you though the other 5 (including Hiroshima's high-scoring win at Fujieda). Before time is up, Jon also briefs you on the forthcoming Round 24 fixtures in J2 this weekend, and casts a glance at the midweek Emperor's Cup Round of 16 games on the horizon for Akita and Yamagata. Thanks for waiting patiently for the uploads during our slow summer - we'll have a full review of J2 Round 24 as usual next week!

Live and direct from Germany, Ralf Seidl joined Jonny and Ben to chat about Urawa's two games in the past week, his thoughts on Reds' prospects for the rest of the season, and his experience following the club in the Club World Cup in the US. Then in Part 2 Jonny and Ben round up some other business from around the league. Thanks to all of our patrons who submitted questions for both parts of the episode.

After a longer than expected (and accidental!) summer break, James and Jon return to catch up on the last round of J2 fixtures played before the holiday interval (Round 23 of the season). With work and family pressures weighing heavy on the guys in July, it's a mini-pod this time. In Part 1, James covers the bulk of the Round 23 action, including yet another impressive win for runaway leaders Mito (I still can't get used to typing this combination of words). Then in Part 2, Jon wraps things up with a check on in-form Tosu, & their home victory over near neighbors Oita (plus a quick comment on a Most Bravo Player for the round). We hope everyone enjoys the review (and accepts our apologies for the tardy upload)! Later this week, stay tuned for a review of the Emperor's Cup Round 3 games from a J2 perspective, along with a preview of the J2 Round 24 games coming up this weekend!

J1 returned with a bang after the EAFF Cup break, and Alan Gibson joined Jonny and Ben to chat about our new leaders, Kobe, and which of the top six might be their most likely challengers (to 59:15). Then in Part 2 Jonny and Ben celebrate wins for Gamba and FC Tokyo, and round up the situation at the foot of the table. Thanks, as always, to Alan, the pleasure was all ours. Check out Alan on Bluesky and X/Twitter, and consider supporting his Patreon.

After the Samurai Blue won the EAFF Cup for the second straight time on Tuesday night, Ryo Nakagawara joined Jonny and Ben to chat about: The standout performers for Japan in South Korea; three players who might be destined for a move to Europe in the future; and the state of the top and bottom of J1. Check out Ryo's terrific work on his Shogun Soccer site, and follow him on Bluesky and X.

After a busy 7 days in the real world (gulp), James and Jon look back on last weekend's J2 action. In Part 1, James casts a glance over 5 of the J2 matches from Round 22, and talks about his Most Bravo Players for this matchday. Then in Part 2, Jon does similar for the rest of the Round 22 games. There's also a preview of this weekend's Round 23 fixtures, and a look ahead to the midweek Emperor's Cup Round 3 games with a J2 participant! Hope everyone enjoys the show, and thank you for being patient with the upload this week!

After another terrific J1 matchday, Stuart Woodward joined Jonny and Ben in Part 1 to chat about Yokohama F.Marinos' away win in the Yokohama derby on Saturday night, as well as the pre-match kerfuffle that led to the away supporters missing most of the first half at Mitsuzawa, and other goings-on at F.Marinos, including Anderson Lopes' departure, and new coach Hideo Oshima (to 28:15). Then in Part 2 Jonny and Ben review the other eight games from Saturday night, including Kashima's third straight loss that saw them tumble from the summit, new leaders Kashiwa taking over at the top with a win over FC Tokyo, and Kobe roaring up to second after two wins in four days.

James Taylor and Jon Steele return with another action-packed JTET. In part 1, James rounds up 9 games from J2 matchday 21. In part 2, James and Jon discuss the recent managerial changes at Yamaguchi and Yamagata, analyse Sapporo v Kumamoto, offer a tribute to Hitoshi Morishita, select their Most Bravo Player, and preview the coming weekend’s fixtures.   Thank you for your support of the J-Talk Podcast and J-Talk: Extra Time. *Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod *Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg *Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

After a very eventful J1 matchday, and some housekeeping at the start of the episode (to 12:10), Jonny and Ben were joined by first time guest Seamus Johnston to chat about Kashiwa Reysol, who went joint top of the top flight with a character-building 2-0 away win over Shimizu on Saturday. Seamus chats about his expectations coming into the season under new manager Ricardo Rodriguez, some of the standout players thus far, and whether or not the club will be active in the summer transfer window (to 35:20). Then Jonny and Ben run through the other games played over the weekend, when, with the notable exception of Kyoto, the rest of the top six struggled.

Scheduling conflicts meant James Taylor and Jon Steele were unable to record together this week, so James has a quick review of all the action from J2 machday 20, picks his Most Bravo Player, and previews the coming weekend's games. Thank you for your support of the J-Talk Podcast and J-Talk: Extra Time. *Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod *Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg *Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

Sam Robson made a triumphant return to the pod, to help Jonny and Ben run through all nine games played over the weekend in J1 Matchday 21. After a quick look back at the Emperor's Cup and Urawa's first two games at the Club World Cup, we kick off our top flight review with Machida's home win over leaders Kashima, and the instant classic between Kashiwa and Kyoto at Hitachidai that finished 3-3. From there we move on to Hiroshima and Kobe, who surged into the top four with away wins, and then work our way through the other five games, chatting about the managerial changes at Niigata and Yokohama F.Marinos along the way.

In this brief episode, James Taylor reviews the 11 games involving J2 teams in the Emperor's Cup 2nd round. Thank you for your support of the J-Talk Podcast and J-Talk: Extra Time. *Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod *Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg *Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

James Taylor and Jon Steele are back with a bumper episode of JTET reviewing another entertaining weekend of J2. First, James has a roundup of 7 games from matchday 19 (start to 05:35). Then he was joined by Jon to discuss three goalfests: Nagasaki v Omiya (05:35 to 20:20); Yamagata v Sendai (20:20 to 33:00); and Tokushima v JEF United (33:00 to 44:00). Next, the boys choose their Most Bravo Players and discuss the J.League’s monthly awards for May (44:00 to 51:40), and end the episode with a preview of the coming weekend’s league fixtures (51:40 to end).   Thank you for your support of the J-Talk Podcast and J-Talk: Extra Time. *Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod *Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg *Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

Jonny and Ben begin the episode by chatting about the fringe players who stood out in Japan's big win over Indonesia last week, and the cupsets from the 2nd round of the Emperor's Cup (to 15:10), before diving in to all the results and talking points from the nine J1 games played over the weekend.

In a quick wrap-up pod, James and Jon cover recent games from a trio of competitions. In Part 1, James takes a look at how J2 sides fared in Round 1 of the Emperor's Cup at the end of May. Then in Part 2, Jon checks in on Iwata's two-legged Levain Cup Play-Off tie against Shonan, and reviews the three rearranged J2 games that took place last weekend (including yet another win for Mito). Thanks for all the support of the pod this season - we'll be back to review all of the weekend action next week! *Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod *Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg *Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

In this episode of JTSC, Jon Steele and James Taylor discussed recent events in J3. They begin with a quick mention of notable results from the first and second rounds of the Emperor’s Cup (start to 05:10), then discuss the recent managerial change at Zweigen Kanazawa (05:10 to 16:40), the general situation regarding the relegation battle (16:40 to 24:20), and a look at the teams at the top end of the table (24:10 to end).   Thanks for your support of the J-Talk Podcast, J-Talk: Extra Time, and J-Talk: Short Corner. *Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://patreon.com/jtalkpod *Find our JLeague Chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/UwN2ambAwg *Follow JTET on Bluesky here: @jtalket.bsky.social

Alan Gibson joins Jonny and Ben to help us piece together the J-Talk Team of the (Half) Season. Before we get to the good stuff we chat about Alan's interview with Football Zone (Part 1 of 3 linked here), his overall thoughts on the first half of the season, and some of the major transfers in this mini window (to 27:30), before we discuss how Japan's newcomers fared in the 1-0 defeat to Australia last Thursday, and the Levain Cup playoff round (to 52:30). Then in Part 2, we go from back to front selecting our team of the best performers in the first half of the season.