Basic hand flying skills must be more difficult to maintain on the Airbus series than on any other type.
When it all goes 'tits up', ANY pilot should be able to fall back on the basic skill-set he learned before his first solo.
We all understand the basic utility of "automatics".
They are there to allow you to eat your breakfast or read the paper or look out the window (!).
They are NOT a substitute for that stuff you learned at your flight school!
I see young FOs these days that can barely fly the a/c.
The real worry tho' is that they think they are completely 'bulletproof'.
I'll bet a quid that this a/c was being flown by the F/Os.
If I'm right, and they were typical 'autos ON' F/Os, they might have found their lack of recency in holding the dog**** controller less than helpful.