I still think everything comes down to him not trusting the defence. Whether his set up to therefore protect it is correct is a talking point, but the reason we aren't releasing the rest of the team to attack is down to that.
And, to be honest, I can't argue with him. To pick an incident which had me utterly gobsmacked, there was a point early in the second half where a Burnley player was attacking the edge of the area, holding the ball. Two United defenders closed him down, and were shepherding him away to the (our) left. Suddenly, from his position as RCB, Smalling comes galloping into the picture to try to tackle someone who already had two United players on him - leaving another Burnley player completely unmarked just to the right of our penalty spot. If the one on the ball had a clue, the easiest pass in the world would have split our defence because none of them seem to have the faintest idea where they should even be standing in the first place, never mind how to them defend.
That example is Smalling, but they're all at it, game after game. That defence means that you can't afford to have your midfielders in attacking positions, and you can't afford to play high risk passes, because the moment you lose the ball, your opponent can make our entire back line shit themselves and fall over with one aimless ball over the top.
I would like to think that with a trustworthy defence, LVG would be playing the systems and football we all want to see.