Setting compontents in Jpanel

Question

I'm trying to create Pair Game. I have created 2 JPanels: first for game map (100 buttons) and second for statistics. The problem is that i have deployment of timer and counter like on left picture, but i want to have it like on right picture (i edited it in paint). What layout should i use? I tryed many solution but nothing worked for me. Also, if i set null manager JPanel dissapear

public class PairGame extends JFrame implements ActionListener{

JLabel counterLabel, timerLabel;
JMenuBar menuBar;
JMenu file, help;
JMenuItem fileNew, fileExit, helpAbout;
JPanel gamePanel, statisticsPanel;
JToggleButton buttons[];

ArrayList <Integer> values;

int temp=0, counter=0;

void createMenuBar()
{        
    file = new JMenu("File");
        fileNew = new JMenuItem("New");
        fileNew.addActionListener(this);
        fileNew.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("ctrl N"));
        fileExit = new JMenuItem("Exit");
        fileExit.addActionListener(this);
        fileExit.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("ctrl Q"));
        file.add(fileNew);
        file.add(fileExit);
        file.setMnemonic('f');

    help = new JMenu("Help");
        helpAbout = new JMenuItem("About");
        helpAbout.addActionListener(this);
        helpAbout.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("ctrl H"));
        help.add(helpAbout);
        help.setMnemonic('h');

    menuBar = new JMenuBar();
        menuBar.add(file);
        menuBar.add(help);
        setJMenuBar(menuBar);
}

public void createGameMap()
{     
    gamePanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(10,10));

    values = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    for(int i=1; i<=50; i++)
        values.add(i);
    for(int i=51; i<=100; i++)
        values.add(i-50);

    Collections.shuffle(values);      

    buttons = new JToggleButton[100];
    for(int i=0; i<100; i++)
    {
        buttons[i] = new JToggleButton(""+(i+1));
        buttons[i].setName(String.valueOf(values.toArray()[i]));
        buttons[i].addActionListener(this);
        gamePanel.add(buttons[i]);
    }

    gamePanel.setBounds(0,0,550,400);
    add(gamePanel);
}

public void createStatisticsPanel()
{
    statisticsPanel = new JPanel();
    counterLabel = new JLabel("Counter: "+counter);
    timerLabel = new JLabel("Timer: ");
    statisticsPanel.add(counterLabel); 
    statisticsPanel.add(timerLabel);
    statisticsPanel.setBounds(0,410,540,400);
    add(statisticsPanel);
}


PairGame()
{
    setTitle("Pair Game");
    setSize(565,600);
    setLocation(400,100);        
    setLayout(null);
    setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);       

    createMenuBar();
    createGameMap();   
    createStatisticsPanel();

    setVisible(true);
}

public static void main(String[] args) 
{ 
    new PairGame();
} 

Answer 1

The purpose of my answer is not only to demonstrate a possible solution, using layout managers as GhostCat suggested, but also demonstrated the idea of an MCVE to make it easier help and get help.

Please see comment for explanations:

//post imports
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JToggleButton;

public class PairGame extends JFrame {

    //removed fields to keep code as short as possible
    JLabel counterLabel, timerLabel;
    JPanel gamePanel, statisticsPanel;

    //menu bar removed to keep the code as short as possible
    //void createMenuBar()

    public void createGameMap()
    {
        //simplify as much as possible
        gamePanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,1));

        JToggleButton button = new JToggleButton("1");
        gamePanel.add(button);

        //use layout managers is preferred practice over setting bounds
        add(gamePanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }

    public void createStatisticsPanel()
    {
        counterLabel = new JLabel("Counter: ");
        timerLabel = new JLabel("Timer: ");

        statisticsPanel = new JPanel();

        //use layout managers is preferred practice over setting bounds
        //the layout you want can be achieved with various managers
        //such as BorderLayout, BoxLayout, Gridlayout

        //Implementation of BorderLayout 
        statisticsPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        statisticsPanel.add(counterLabel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        statisticsPanel.add(timerLabel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

        //to test box layout REPLACE the 3 statements above with  
        //Implementation of BoxLayout 
        //BoxLayout boxLayout = new BoxLayout(statisticsPanel,BoxLayout.Y_AXIS);
        //statisticsPanel.setLayout(boxLayout);
        //statisticsPanel.add(counterLabel);
        //statisticsPanel.add(timerLabel);

        add(statisticsPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    }


    PairGame()
    {
        setTitle("Pair Game");
        setSize(565,600);
        setLocation(400,100);

        //use layout managers is preferred practice over setting bounds
        getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());

        setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        createGameMap();
        createStatisticsPanel();

        setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        new PairGame();
    }
}

Don't hesitate to ask for clarifications as needed.

Answer 2

There is a whole variety of different layout managers that allow you to place your objects "in regards" to each other.

If you have a look at the second example for BoxLayout from Oracle ... surprise: that panel shows "two elements", the upper one being a left aligned label. Probably exactly what you are looking for.

Alternatively; right the first example for GridLayout has aligned labels, too.