I was one of those who spent years doing cone drills and yet failed to improve dribbling. I wouldn't say it didn't help me but it certainly not helping me improve a lot. All these ball mastery, cone weaves did help me improve my confidence on the ball. The only way I improved myself was through playing 1 v 1, small-sided games or 11 v 11 itself. Yes, I failed a lot. A lot. But the most important thing I did after I failed was to analyse what I should have done. Then the next time I did iterate. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. I continued to iterate and fail, till I got to a point where it was engraved into my instinct. That's how you learn. Don't get me wrong ball mastery is great for improving your confidence and being comfortable with the ball. Comment what your thoughts on this are.