The team, we hear, expressed discontent (6)
I believe the answer is:
sighed
'expressed discontent' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'the team we hear' is the wordplay.
'the team' becomes 'side' (both can mean a sports team).
'we hear' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'side' sounds like 'SIGHED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sighed that I've seen before include "Breathed wearily" , "He digs ( anag.)" , "Showed exasperation" , "expressed resignation, say" , "Made yearning sound" .)