I would advocate giving him a chance in a caretaker role. Joe Royle helped him out but there was no doubt Unsworth was in charge.
The other thing I've always thought about Unsworth is that he's brilliant under pressure. He started his career at Everton in a relegation dogfight with Mike Walker. There was plenty of senior pro's who buckled under that pressure but Unsworth was completely unfazed. Again in the FA cup final he was up against Mark Hughes, played him off the park.
Then he was best penalty taker I've ever seen at Everton, completely cool under pressure, pretty much always scored and didn't miss when it really mattered (20 out of 23). Here's what he says about penalties
"But the other is mentality. You have to have that inner confidence to do the hardest thing in football, which is to score goals, and I think the best penalty takers are technically sound, but also have great inner confidence. And how can you measure that? You have to be supremely positive, you have to be confident you are going to score - and if you don’t score you have to be able to go again without it playing on your mind."
I wouldn't be worried about Unsworth under pressure I think he'd thrive on it.