I would bet my last £1 that if put in a briefing classroom and asked the following questions, both pilots would give these answers:
Q. How do you recover from a stall?
A. Reduce the AoA by lowering the nose.
Q. How do you take control?
A. By pushing and holding the takeover pb, and saying "I have control".
Yet the startle, or fear, has resulted in an initial mess. 9 seconds is a long time to intervene when the aircraft banked 53° left. What was the thought process? Was it assumed that this was the a/p? When the a/p dropped out, did the FO read the FMAs? Did he do a micro-diagnosis? Did he see/say "Alternate Law"? Did he see the beta target?
Once in a mess, the fear has escalated (ref the captain's verbal comment) and recovery is 100 times harder.
It's not "recovery from unusual attitudes" that needs training, it's "recovery from an instant and unusual condition" that needs attention. How to approach this, the mental discipline required (as well as the operational discipline).
Curiously, our last sim cycle (A320) included "startle" and unusual attitude recovery. More to be done, industry-wide, I think.