This is not the case. For several years now, the FM-Arena community has conducted many tests showing that only speed, acceleration and, to some extent, jumping reach matter. It seems that this year dribbling has been boosted to the level of jumping reach, but the rest of the attributes have negligible or no effect.
In these tests there is a control group with default attributes compared to other groups with +5/-5 in a given attribute across all the positions. Let's say a team with default attributes managed 60 points in a season. The group with -5 Pace has only managed 29 points and the group with +5 Pace has managed 81 points. But then we have groups like the one with -5 Passing that managed 57 points (only 3 points less over the season) and the +5 Passing group that only managed 59 points.
Other attributes had no impact or at best 1-3 points. We are talking about +/- 5 in all positions throughout the season. The tests were repeated thousands of times.
I think it is safe to say that speed, acceleration and jumping reach are all that matter in this game. No wonder even GK with decent pace can be a decent striker in this context.
But there are still people on this site who are in denial about it. It's sad that a game you've been playing since CM 01/02 lies to you about 90% of its supposed features. But it becomes obvious when you realise that even basic functionality, such as squad building, scouting and the transfer market, doesn't work properly. Why would anyone believe that more advanced things such as player movement, decision-making, accuracy and other mental/technical aspects of match simulation would be taken care of when, in reality, even the most basic functions don't work?
Back to attributes, however. There is always the argument that this negligible impact of attributes actually gains in strength when there are, say, 10 of them. You go from 1-3 points per season to 10-30 points. Now there is a big difference, yes. But players with -5 in 10 attributes are considered lower league players and shouldn't be able to compete with top league players. And with some speed/acc advantage they can even outplay them.
I know I sound bitter and overly critical, so I want to end on a more positive note. I'm not saying that the developers are deceiving us in this regard by putting some placebo attributes in the game. Maybe it's just a massive balancing issue that has arisen after years of changing the match engine. Or maybe it's a database problem, mainly an unbalanced distribution of attributes by researchers, and perhaps there should be greater differences in mentals/technicals between players considered to be of different quality. Put simply, distribute more 1's and 20's in mentals/technicals.
But the most important thing to do is to nerf pace, especially in players with the ball. Adama Traore, Dan James are not necessarily less talented in other areas. In reality, the faster a player runs, the less time he has to think and the harder it is for him to control the ball or make even the simplest pass. The game does not take this into account. Simple debuffs to other attributes when a player breaks the next speed thresholds would be sufficient. Then perhaps a high technique attribute could act as a counterbalance to prevent these debuffs from occurring, to take into account players like KDB who can do everything efficiently, even while at top speed.