It's certainly a counter to the problem. Arguably, you shouldn't always need to do this (some freekicks should be saveable either way and others should miss. But at least doing this stops it being as big an advantage as it could be.
My preference would be that they applied the target ring from penalties to freekicks (no visible though), so stronger kicks become more varied in direction. This would easily lead to more missed freekicks (far too many are on target compared to real life).
PS. The freekicks DO rely on stats. It's just even lower levels (say 70+) are too easy to be accurate with. My 82 (and 82 curling) player is easily my best set piece taker and it's noticeably different from the 78,70 guy and the 72,85 one.