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As a Chelsea supporter but primarily a Benfica fan i've watched him more than most.
 
For those that are not sure about his quality especially given the strength of the portuguese league i understand your doubts.
 
However Matic was player of the year ahead of Joao Moutinho and it often looked like he was a man amongst boys.
 
In Europe he was very good, often dominating games, and there's a vid showing him keeping the ball and handling the Barca pressure well.
 
To give you a little idea of how he is rated, generally Benfica fans consider him to be top 5 in the world in his position and i agree.  I wouldn't swap him for Khedira let's say (although they play slightly different positions) 
 
On top of that Matic would probably rank as the BEST player that has played for Benfica performance wise in the last ten years alongside probaby Di Maria.
 
He performed better than Luiz, better than Ramires, better than Witsel and much better than Javi Garcia.
 
For those saying to play Luiz next to him i reckon it makes Luiz redundant.  Matic is already a good passer and covers the ground.  You want someone with energy who is technical, creative and likes to get forward.  I imagine someone like his current partner Enzo Perez to be a good fit.  Someone like Modric would be perfect.  Maybe in the future Willian or Oscar could do the job.  Van Ginkel could be a good partner
 
I have no doubts in my mind he will be a success and he's exactly what Chelsea have been missing in the centre of the park.  I woudn't be surprised if he started against ManU, afterall Jose played sneijder without even a training session at Inter and i reckon Jose sees him as a very important piece for now and the future.

See, that's the excuse I've heard most of all about Torres. Why single him out when others were poor,too and the classic "no service" quote.
Yes, he wasn't the only one playing badly, but Torres was out of League Cup game and was supposed to be fresh and yet he looked his usual helpless self.
As for service, a top class striker creates things on his own when the service is not there. Look at RVP's goal yesterday. It wasn't a great service that supplied him with a goal scoring opportunity, he was at the right time in the right place and the second the chance presented itself he didn't hesitate and put it away. That's what strikers do.
As someone mentioned it earlier in the thread, in a course of a season there will always be games when the team struggles and doesn't produce their best for various reasons. This is when a top class striker comes in handy, he'll save your bacon by scoring goals and getting points in fixtures where seemingly everything's gone against you. Can you honestly remember such game with Fernando playing that part? Even worse, on so many occasions he's a hindrance rather than help, his whole body language speaks volumes about his shattered self confidence, he doesn't strike fear in any of the opposing defenses, and his own teammates suffer because they have a spent force leading the attacking line, who's constantly in the wrong place, hiding from his responsibilities and time and again making wrong decisions that hurt the team.
I think we've spent too much time guessing what needs to be done to accommodate Torres and finding excuses for his poor performances. He's done very little to justify that faith and he still looks miserable out there. If sending him to the bench makes him even less happy, I couldn't care less. Give Sturridge a run of games to see how he fares and in January either bring back Lukaku or buy someone who knows what the job of a striker entails.
Enough of this sh*t already.

Well said. I maintain my stance - we are basically playing Kalou as our #9. He does his bit, works hard , gets a goal every 3 games and the odd assist and that's all fine, but is the player really scaring the life out of opposition defences (and supporters?)
for the current form and return of Torres we could've kept Kalou or bought a striker from France or Portugal for £15 million.
Honestly this current team would be f**king dynamite with a top class striker that buried chance after chance and terrified opposing teams. Torres is doing ok , bit he's nothing of the sort.
No doubt someone will pipe up and say the norm , this thread is embarrassing or Torres gets more stick than other players on the team (I actually think its the total opposite) but this is simply how I see it.

Why do pro Torres posters insist on "let's wait before passing a judgment"? My view of Fernando and his shortcomings is based on his whole CFC career to date, not the start of the current season.
Like Davey Baby said, try and imagine his name wasn't Torres and he didn't arrive with huge price tag and expectations. Would you still blame everything and everyone but him for his struggles?
Do you think Demba Ba or Papis Cisse have better supporting cast at Newcastle than Torres has here? Do you really think someone like Van Persie, for example, wouldn't be quite prolific in our team if we swapped Torres for him?
If you're in top shape and confident, you'll do relatively well anywhere.

don't say anything....don't say anything...don't say anything...don't say anything......oh f**k it.........he'll be out the door in January

Let's be honest with ourselves, he'll never be the player he was at Liverpool, it's quite clear now.
At first, it was £50m price tag, that put him under huge pressure and wouldn't let him do what he was brought here for. Then it was lack of service, the team wasn't playing to his strengths. Then it was Drogba's big shadow that wouldn't allow him to come out of his shell, they'd say he needs to be "the man".
It's a few months short of two years since Fernando has arrived and he still looks lost. Only the most blind optimist can still maintain it's not his fault. Like Burt Reynolds said in Boogie Nights ":If it looks like sh*t and sounds like sh*t, then it must be sh*t." It's not the team, it's not the fee, it's not Drogba or lack of service. It's him.
The causes for that sad turn of fate could be various but the most obvious is the combination of injuries that robbed him of his mobility before he even got to CFC and a tough case of confidence shot to hell. I remember that Torres from years ago that used to tear our defense apart and it's evident that that Torres isn't there anymore.
It's irritating to watch him fall over at every contact and moan at the referees for help, or running into blind alleys and lose the ball time and time again. Walking down the tunnel at QPR after being subbed instead of joining others on the bench was absolutely infuriating. After all the support from the club, three different managers and fans with seemingly endless patience he has the cheek to throw his toys out of the pram after being substituted at the end of what looked like another failure of a performance.
Now, mind you, I'm not saying he isn't trying, in fact at times he looks like he's trying too hard. The point is, it's not working and we've waited long enough to erase any doubt. I don't know whether Sturridge has it him to be come our new target man upfront, but I'm fully convinced now Torres will never be that.