Agree?
What happened thereafter will be guesswork.
Agree and Agreed,
But some educated guesswork might suggest that as it seems we have a less than stable approach, Ochams Razor would point to that, rather than a mechanical problem, being the start of the causative chain.
Our SOPs require that the A/T are never fully disconnected. Yes, we do take out the autopilot, and announce it to the other chap, and also ask the other seat for "Speed Off" which requires speed to be deselected on the MCP. Following these actions, an alarm sounds for the AP disconnect, and the red-flashing warning light for A/T flashes. The Speed Mode is then shown as ARM. In these circumstances, thrust will return automatically when the actual speed falls below the selected MCP speed.
I can assure you that is not universal. We used to do that at Ansett, as well as A/P off, A/T on landings, but other Airlines I worked for discouraged both as Boeing does not reccomend it, their rationale being it can lead to uncommanded thrust increrases and therefore pitch excurtions near the ground.