Dundee United boss Mixu Paatelainen admits that while on the outside he may look like a man possessed during matches, inside he is determined to remain as calm as possible.
The big Finn is under no illusions about the desperate situation his side are currently in, rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table, eight points adrift of Kilmarnock.
Despite the precarious position, Paatelainen insists that he will be attempting to keep his cool as much as possible otherwise he could lose his focus and concentration which is the last thing United need at the moment.
He said: “For my liking I was a little bit too animated (two weeks ago) at Kilmarnock. It was down to the way we started the match defensively. We were very poor but we picked it up from there.
“I am animated as always. You don’t want to take that part of you away. I am calm, though. Sometimes I talk to the fourth official in a serious manner, if you like, sometimes I have a joke with him. Nobody laughs! I’m a foreigner so my sense of humour is hopeless.
“I don’t think about the league position during matches, I don’t think anyone does.
“The players are thinking about their roles in the team and the jobs they have to do.
“They are focused on what we’re doing and how we want to change things.
“You think about things on a Saturday evening, which at the moment I hate.
He added: “I care, I feel it and I want to help the players and be there with them.
“That is the bottom line, but if you get too frustrated and caught up in it and too unhappy at how things go, it can affect your concentration.
“So far it hasn’t maybe earlier in my career when I was sent to the stand a couple of times.
“But I learned my lesson from that and it hasn’t happened since.
“Will it happen again? You never know.”
Paatelainen admitted that any manager who gets too caught up in emotion during games and loses his focus is simply not doing his job properly.
He said: “It is important to keep your concentration, watch how your players are performing and look at the opponent as well.
“You always have to be focused so you can see what they are doing, how they are changing and try to spot possible weaknesses.
“So it’s very important to stay focused.
“Being animated doesn’t take that away because some managers are calm and others are not.
“I just want to be out helping the players as much as I can.
“The moment a head coach or manager loses his focus on the game, he isn’t doing his job.
“So you have to remember that always.
“Some managers show their emotions more than others but I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way.
“It is whatever suits you as a person.
“When I played, I put myself about. I used to go into matches trying to bully the centre-half as much as I could.
“So as a manager I’m fully there during matches.
“Would I like to get the boots on again? No not with this ankle and this knee, it hasn’t crossed my mind.”