The 33-year-old coach discusses the differences between working in Europe and the US, losing the NWSL Championship final and moving abroad for the first time

After spending all of your career coaching in Spain, since June you have been coaching in the American NWSL, as the head coach of Washington Spirit. Thinking more broadly about the NWSL, what differences have you observed in style of play in this league, compared to European football? “Yes, being honest, it’s different. I think in Spain and Europe, regarding tactical plans, there is a high, high level, and here it is very entertaining, because the style of play [here] is thinking ‘what do I have to do to give my best to the supporters and make the people enjoy?’ Only 25-30% of the games here are won by a difference of two goals. The rest of the games, there’s only one goal difference. That means that the league is very competitive. So this is very difficult if you compare it with my past with Barcelona in Spain because most of the games we won 4-0, 5-0, 6-0, easy, and in Europe other games too, but the level of tactics was very, very high. Here the level of the player is high too but everything is related to the entertainment. It’s more physical, more direct, transitions, chances, not too much control. I am trying to change it a little bit. I want to increase the entertainment, for sure, but I want to reduce the transitions and have more control in the games.”

At the end of your first half-season in charge of Washington Spirit you reached the NWSL Championship final but ultimately lost 1-0 to Orlando Pride in the final game of the season in November. As a coach, how long does it take for you to get over a narrow defeat like that, when the trophy was so close? “You need days, weeks, because I consider myself a very competitive person, and I don’t like to lose. But when you are analysing what you did well, what you can improve for the next season, you have to be proud of the project and the way that you are doing so far, because there are other amazing teams in the league. We beat the [defending] Championship team, Gotham, we got in a better position than Kansas and Portland, North Carolina, teams that have the experience and are doing a good job in the last seasons.”

Overall, then, how would you reflect on your time at the club so far since you arrived in June, on the pitch? “We arrived late, for sure, in the middle of the season, in June. [We had] to compete from the beginning in important games. But we wanted to compete in every single game and try to win. I don’t like to say things like ‘ok, I need one, two, three years’ - that’s very easy, that’s very simple. For me it’s ‘Ok, that’s the situation, that’s the roster, that’s the training session, that’s the facility, that’s the staff. This is everything that we have to have. After ending the season, I was not happy of course, because we lost the final and got second position but, seeing the big picture, I think we did a good job and we have to be proud of it.”

Tactically, would you say your tactical approach is different with Washington Spirit compared to the tactics you deployed at your former club, Barcelona, where you won the Women’s Champions League two times in a row? “This is a good question. When I tell the people that I am doing the same things, people are surprised. I’ll explain to you why. The only things that I’m doing differently are the contents that I use to carry out with the players, but the game-model is the same. When we have the ball possession, when we don’t have the ball possession, or take communication between the players, it’s the same. I understand that here I have other types of players, other characteristics of players, so what I try to do is to use that, and the way that I want to attack and defend is different, but the methodology is the same. I don’t have Patri [Patricia Guijarro], I don’t have Aitana [Bonmati], I have other players. I am not speaking about ‘better or worse’. Other ones. So what I have to do as a coach is exploit their level as much as possible to make sure they compete at the highest-possible level. But in terms of methodology, my methodology is exactly the same as I was doing in Barca.”

Nearby development is booming as the west London rail mega-hub takes shape, helping feed prospects of 22,000 new homes and 19,000 new jobs

Overlooking one of Europe’s biggest building sites might not be every luxury apartment dweller’s ideal view, but at least one man is revelling in it.

Below the new 54-storey Icon Tower, Old Oak Common station is starting to take shape: the initial London hub of HS2, and the catalyst for the economic transformation of an unloved part of west London. According to Gary Sacks, the chief executive of the tower’s developer, City & Docklands, this is now “the capital’s new development hotspot”, vindicating the group’s foray west.

Visceral videos of people playing with slime or braiding hair soothe those who feel overwhelmed by in-person contact

Younger adults are increasingly overwhelmed by in-person interaction and soothing themselves instead with sensory online content, according to a report on the wildly popular online content known as ASMR.

ASMR – autonomous sensory meridian response – describes a particular sensory phenomenon that is triggered by specific sights or sounds, which usually begins with a tingling sensation across the scalp and results in feelings of deep calm and relaxation.

47% of those aged 25-34 said they felt overwhelmed in noisy or busy places such as shopping centres or train stations, compared with 35% of those aged 55-64.

39% of those aged 18-24 felt the need to shut out noise, for example using noise-cancelling headphones in public, compared with only 21% of those age 45-54.

Younger age groups were also more likely to prefer chatting to people online rather than face to face and to prefer to work alone rather than around other people.

Visceral videos of people playing with slime or braiding hair soothe those who feel overwhelmed by in-person contact

Younger adults are increasingly overwhelmed by in-person interaction and soothing themselves instead with sensory online content, according to a report on the wildly popular online content known as ASMR.

ASMR – autonomous sensory meridian response – describes a particular sensory phenomenon that is triggered by specific sights or sounds, which usually begins with a tingling sensation across the scalp and results in feelings of deep calm and relaxation.

47% of those aged 25-34 said they felt overwhelmed in noisy or busy places such as shopping centres or train stations, compared with 35% of those aged 55-64.

39% of those aged 18-24 felt the need to shut out noise, for example using noise-cancelling headphones in public, compared with only 21% of those age 45-54.

Younger age groups were also more likely to prefer chatting to people online rather than face to face and to prefer to work alone rather than around other people.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

A Guardian analysis shows that vehicles were allowed to approach Bourbon Street despite safety plans in years leading up to deadly attack

Local government officials in New Orleans, which endured an intentional, deadly truck ramming attack on its most famous street during New Year’s Day celebrations, have not shut down vehicular cross traffic on that street during major events nearly 90 times – evidently failing to fully enact public safety plans that they touted ahead of the gatherings, a Guardian investigation has confirmed.

In many cases, cars and other vehicles were allowed to cross the street for the entire period that the city’s press releases said they would be forbidden from doing so. And during all but a handful of days, officials failed to place any physical barriers that would prevent motorists intending to attack crowds there from turning in either direction on to Bourbon Street, a one-way thoroughfare, leaving pedestrians vulnerable to terrorists for many years.