At the risk of disagreeing with some very experienced pilots here, the Airbus is no problem to fly with autopilot off - with or without flight directors. In both Airbus companies I have worked for it is normal to swith off the autopilot between 500' and 1000' above ground level and leave the FDs in. There is never any problem with spooling up. Under these circumstances I use 2 methods to ensure that I have sufficient power in very gusty conditions. I push the throttles just forward of the FLEX/MCT position for a couple of seconds to command a spool up of the engines (not good below 100' ra!) or I raise the nose slightly to get the speed just below Vapp and it commands a spool up of the engines to compensate.
I also regularly take out the autothrust and flight directors to practice manual flying in reasonable weather. I find the aircraft does not naturally sit on a heading without many little alterations to maintain the course. Once you get used to it there is no problem and all the good advice is that below 500'ra do not let the N1 decay below 50% or you are in danger of a heavy landing. To get the correct power setting for Vapp, with CFMs I use Gross Weight/1000 - 5 for 2 engines and Gross Weight/1000 + 10 single engine - that seems to be about right.