I completely agree with the Zebina comment... Grygera needs to hit the bench.
However, I did think that Marchisio had a solid game today - especially since it was his first competitive match back in the mix. He had a couple of very nice passes - one of which Iaquinta criminally failed to convert... I thought for sure it would be in the back of the net. He tried to do too much on a couple of occasions, but on the whole, he integrated himself nicely into the game - he played better than I thought he would.
Not sure how you consider Ekdal a better option than Marchisio at this point in time. Ekdal has shown promise, and I'm looking forward to watching him improve... but based upon his exhibition performances, I don't think he's ready to start a match against Fiorentina.
To each his own I suppose...