It's not ideal phrasing but when I was at Man Uni, we used to go play 5 a side after Man City's academy sides played their games on Saturdays at Platt Lane. They're taught the fundamentals which is great but there's no intensity to the games and they're glorified training sessions. I enjoyed it because of the talent on show but it was not a competitive game by any measure. I don't think there's a benefit to u23 players playing that type of football.