parabellum, nobody suggests otherwise. You always have to be proficient in autoflight as well. However, many abnormals degrade or shut off autoflight functions, and especially in those cases with exceptional high workload manual flight only works well if the pilots are proficient in manual flight. To be proficient in manual flight you need to keep your training up, what is better than to simply do it on the line?
Of course a professional pilot always should be proficient both in manual flight and autoflight usage. However there are some airlines that discourage the crews to use manual flight, and i guess this thread is about this point. Twice a year in the simulator for a couple minutes is simply not enough training.
And of course any additional pilot on the flightdeck helps in an non-normal situation.