I've seen this happen many times, where a player decides to shoot from an impossible position on the wing and misses, rather than giving the ball to free person in a better position in front of the goal.
I've taken this screenshot from one of my games to show this:
http://www.glowfoto.com/static_image/23-052735L/4558/jpg/11/2010/img4/glowfoto
as you see in the picture, the winger is in a nearly impossible position. and there is a 100% free forward in front the goal. but the winger shoots instead.
also both of the winger and the forward have 8 balls in PI