Surely, the captain failed to control his aircraft. But with an airbus, the captain would not have been disturbed by very large stick forces, even in alternate law and trim failure, because of the sidestick having a constant force feedback.
Airbus FBW sidestick has force feedback? Well, I learnt something new today, I thought it was just couple of springs that knew nothing about what was going on with the flight controls, airspeed or the atmosphere.
Airbus FBW handles very differently in normal and alternate law, particularly during a go-around. In normal law, one has to pull, whereas in direct law (which you will be in landing configuration) the same amount of pull will get you into big trouble very quickly, as with any aircraft with underslung engines.