In July the J League started again. It had been shut down in February with teams having played only one game. Cerezo got off to a pretty good start winning 3, drawing 2 and losing only 1 game. The loss was to in-form Nagoya. This is what the league table looked like a the end of July.
| Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | |
| 1 | Kawasaki | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 6 | 14 | 19 |
| 2 | Gamba | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 16 |
| 3 | Nagoya | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 14 |
| 4 | Tokyo | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 14 |
| 4 | Cerezo | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 14 |
| 6 | Urawa | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 13 |
| 7 | Kashiwa | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 12 | 6 | 12 |
| 8 | Hokkaido | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| 9 | Kobe | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 9 |
| 10 | Hiroshima | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 7 |
| 11 | Yokohama FM | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 14 | -2 | 7 |
| 12 | Oita | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 7 |
| 13 | Sendai | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 14 | -5 | 6 |
| 14 | Yokohama FC | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 16 | -9 | 5 |
| 15 | Tosu | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 4 |
| 16 | Shonan | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 13 | -5 | 4 |
| 17 | Kashima | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 13 | -6 | 4 |
| 17 | Shimizu | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 15 | -6 | 4 |
Cerezo where joint 4th with Kawasaki in first place. This is no surprise as Kawasaki are a strong team who have won the title 2 times in the last 3 years.
I decided to look at the current results in context. There is a football stat called the Uncle Jeff Coefficient. It compares current results with the equivalent results (i.e. against the same teams) from the previous season (this season points – last season points). These are the best and worst preforming teams for July
| 1 | Nagoya | 10 | 18 | Hiroshima | -6 | |
| 2 | Tokyo | 8 | 17 | Kashima | -6 | |
| 3 | Kawasaki | 6 | 16 | Shonan | -6 | |
| 4 | Hokkaido | 6 | 15 | Yokohama FM | -5 | |
| 5 | Urawa | 6 | 14 | Sendai | -4 |
Both Nagoya and Hiroshima have played one game less due to a weather cancellation. Despite this Nagoya are top of this form league. Hiroshima are bottom with their mid-table position below their expected performance. An extra 6 points would put them 6th. Yokohama FM are performing rather badly. They won the league last season. An extra 5 points would only put them 7th so maybe they have had some difficult games.
One issue with such a statistic is that, while it provides an easy comparison, one good or bad season could provide a poor comparison for the subsequent season. I extended the definition to consider the average number of points taken in the equivalent fixture over the past 4 seasons. The magic number of 4 had been chosen as it gives an average and dividing by 4 gives readable decimal numbers. A little trickery is required to deal with promoted and relegated teams but the use of only 4 seasons keeps this to a minimum. The form table using this statistic is as follows:
| 1 | Nagoya | 7.5 | 18 | Kashima | -6.25 | |
| 2 | Kawasaki | 6 | 17 | Shonan | -5.25 | |
| 3 | Tokyo | 5.25 | 16 | Tosu | -5 | |
| 4 | Hokkaido | 3.5 | 15 | Hiroshima | -4.25 | |
| 5 | Kashiwa | 3.25 | 14 | Sendai | -3 |
Similar results. Kashiwa have done well at the start of this season and sit in 7th place in the league table. They are a newly promoted side but were relegated the season before last while playing in the Asian Champions League. The J League can be a bit topsy-turvy. Cerezo are neither best or worst performers. Their performance is generally as expected.