The fact that the players had their own meeting without the manager being there can be taken various ways. For me, it's a bad idea. If there are things that need addressed then it has to be done face to face. If certain players have issues but don't want to tell them to the manager himself there must be a reason for that. If this is because they think it will be held against them in the future and might even harm their career then this might mean that they think the manager may be vindictive and that is not healthy. I also don't like folk loading the gun and some daftie firing the bullet which can happen when things are not totally transparent. Whatever the problem is (and there is a huge one) it has to be thrashed out in the open, very soon. It matters not a jot how good a player or players are, once the confidence goes, it is very hard to restore.