Yeah he was a test... On my main club I trained from 67% to 114% with 198 rests. But there I have much better training level, so all drills are maxed out.
IMO white skills still matter, I won the league last season despite being one of the weaker overall quality clubs. Also the goal difference was the best by far (+82 while 2nd place stronger guy had only +47)... Maybe they are not as important as before, but you notice a difference in the long run.