U23 team using U18 players

[Blodfylla]

A few years into my Sunderland save I have a first team squad of 24 players, of which only 3 of them are available for the U23 as I rotate the first team quite a lot.

There are currently no players in my U23 squad which means U18 squad players are selected to play U23 matches. The match load for the U18 players gets quite heavy with games on consecutive days.

Is there an effective way to stop this and ease their match load without moving them to the U23 squad?

When the players are in the U18 squad there is no "Available for U23 squad" menu option, they just automatically are, it appears.

 

[tiotom92]

That's strange, in my game none of my U18s play for the U23s, even when the U23 team is blank (frustratingly).