If they are the furthest player back then it does but if there's a player behind them - even if they wouldnt stop the ball - it still counts as a blocked shot.
Betting sites only count shots saved by the keeper as shots on target, if a defender stops it it's a "blocked shot". Helps them screw over people who bet on X amount of shots on target.
It has to be. To leave out both him and DCC is nuts, and to drop Lyanco in favour of AMN when he spent the last couple of weeks raving about how much he loves Lyanco is just odd.