I Have Kevin Gonzalez, and Attacking Mid, playing for my Championship team for the past 5 seasons. He's played long enough that I'm absolutely confident that it isn't a statistical fluke/one off, though I can't really prove it as I haven't exactly recorded it. you'll just have to believe me when I say that his ability at long shots would make Messi clap with joy (Maybe). An absolute beast of a long range shooter, from 20 yards to as far as 40 yards he scores them all. The quintessential "He doesn't score tap-ins" player. Well okay, he does, but I'd say it would be a closer to a ratio of 4 to 1 long range goals to short range goals. I'm pretty sure this guy has the team's goal of the season for five years running.
The thing is, as you can see from the stats, and traits, above, I don't know where it's coming from.
I play him as Atk Mid, with AM role, he'll blast them in. As a centre mid, he'll still get some opportunity (a bit less of course) to take a long shot and occasionally score.
I have other players with better long shooting skill, and similar technique. played in the same position as a Atk Mid with SS role, and they get no where near Gonzalez with taking as many long range shots, let alone score them. The difference is absolutely staggering. Even with the traits I would expect both "shoot with power" and "takes more long range shots", or at least one of them, but nope.
I know players have hidden attributes but I'm pretty sure there wasn't one that was take more long shots, that's only a trait thing. Eventually Gonzalez will have to be replaced but how do I find a similar player when it's clear that Player Traits may not be completely "truthful". What's the mechanism behind this difference if they don't even have the traits required?