Parramatta captain Tim Mannah has admitted he’s talked to under-fire playmaker Chris Sandow about his publicly-aired grievances over his on-field role under coach Brad Arthur.

Sandow upset the NRL club this week when he told a reporter the struggling Eels would win more games if he was freed from Arthur’s structured style of football.

“I think if he (coach Brad Arthur) lets me play how I want to play, we’ll win more games,” Sandow said at the time.

“Everyone doesn’t pay to come and see me play structured footy.”

The 26-year-old trained with the team on Friday, but the club has reportedly told the 26-year-old he is free to leave immediately.

Mannah met with Sandow on Thursday to discuss the comments but told reporters it was a private conversation.

“It’s important that we know where he’s coming from. I had a chat with him yesterday to get his side of the story, (but) private conversations are best to stay in private,” he said.

“There’s no point us stirring the pot. If you’ve got questions, you can ask Brad or Chrissy about that. As a player, we just want to improve.”

The Eels skipper did say, however, he was disappointed in Sandow calling out his coach outside of the team environment.

“There are definitely things you don’t do in a public forum,” Mannah said.

“But that’s between Chris and Brad to work out.

“If there’s an issue there they can sort it out between themselves.

“As a player, it’s really important that we don’t buy too much into it and we just focus on what we can do.”

Teammate David Gower was also put out by Sandow’s public frustrations, but argued the team’s problems stemmed from their defensive issues rather than in attack.

“We’re scoring good tries and we’re scoring points. It’s 10-minute lapses in defence that are costing us,” Gower said.

“As far as all that goes, it’s going to be between Chris and Brad.

“We need Chrissy, especially as a half, and Corey (Norman) to execute our game plan for 80 minutes.”