We watched every Premier League manager - here's what we found out

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[BBC]

If you went to watch a football match at the weekend, it's likely you were glued to the action on the pitch rather than what was happening off it.

And the first thing you probably told your friends and family about after the game was the great goal, the extraordinary save or the eye-catching skill you witnessed.

It turns out, however, there's a whole other sideshow happening just a few feet from the touchline.

"It's psychology in action," said Dr Gillian Cook - senior lecturer in sport and performance psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. "Stress is incredibly high."

That sideshow, of course, is in the dugout and technical area. And the person feeling the stress is the one responsible for what's happening in front of them - the manager.

"They know the influence of what they do on the performance of players," added Dr Cook, who has studied the behaviour of managers.

"Can they control their stress? Are they able to manipulate their own emotions to help their players perform or do they succumb to those emotions? Do they boil over? Do they get red cards which then will likely have a detrimental impact on the team?"

In an attempt to answer some of those questions, we sent a BBC Sport journalist to all 10 Premier League games during the most recent round of fixtures to closely watch every manager while the action unfolded.

They recorded data on where the managers stood and how they interacted with those around them, including their coaching staff, the players on the pitch and the match officials.

Here's what we saw.

Banner graphic
[BBC]
Banner graphic
[BBC]

Managers spent a lot of time outside their technical area

The Laws of the Game state managers must remain within the confines of their technical area "except in special circumstances" - but that doesn't seem to stop them regularly crossing the boundary.

On average, Premier League managers this weekend spent nearly a quarter of games standing outside of their area, getting that bit closer to the pitch, even though the distance gained could usually be measured in centimetres.

Part of that could be down to visuals.

"The players see you more and hear you more and they can actually have feedback," said Dr Cook. "They also know that you're there, so you can have that monitoring effect on them.

"You will see the managers point to their heads all the time to have that influence on the players to stay focused."

Another possible reason could be for a manager to be alone with their thoughts.

When sitting in the dugout, a manager will ...

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