If you don't want to achieve things via the window manager you might want to try wmctrl:
-r <WIN> -e <MVARG> Resize and move the window around the desktop. The format of the <MVARG> argument is described below. <MVARG> Specifies a change to the position and size of the window. The format of the argument is: <G>,<X>,<Y>,<W>,<H> <G>: Gravity specified as a number. The numbers are defined in the EWMH specification. The value of zero is particularly useful, it means "use the default gravity of the window". <X>,<Y>: Coordinates of new position of the window. <W>,<H>: New width and height of the window.