I can see how auto throttle could be an advantage in case you want to overrride the Auto throttle; Would probably be faster and more accurate than on Airbus. But I don’t see how it can be more instinctive. When you fly you look ahead at your instruments/outside; Not at your thrust levers. Like the FCTM says itself: « The flight crew can easily and intuitively monitor the energy of the aircraft via current energy cues ( speed, speed trend, HUD chrevrons, engines parameters), and not via ambiguous thrust levers movement. » I like the last part.. A wink to Boeing? Lol.
And I could not agree more. The day I stopped worrying about levers position and just use the speed/ Speed trend and a quick glitch at the N1 for fine tuning, my flying with A/THR off has become much more accurate.