Peter Crouch and Michael Owen accused Liverpool of succumbing to nerves as they let a three-goal lead slip against an 'incredible' Salzburg at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Mohamed Salah stabbed home a fourth goal to settle a rollercoaster evening of Champions League football.
But the former Reds strikers were less than impressed by the European champions' collapse after roaring into a 3-0 lead inside 36 minutes.
'That was mental, absolutely mental', said Crouch on BT Sport.
Liverpool were flying, playing some of the best attacking football I have seen from them this season and then the second half, I don't even know where to begin. 3-3, you just couldn't have seen it.
'And then Salah pops up with the winner but an incredible match, highly entertaining but for the wrong reasons really for Liverpool in the end.
They got a bit nervous Liverpool, you have to say. Once the first goal went in, then the second.
'You watched Fabinho was so calm on the ball, he was passing it out of play, they weren't as intricate as they were in the first half, so it definitely affected them.
'Obviously the fourth goal killed them off and then they controlled the game and managed it out but it was hairy for a while.'
Owen added: 'I was worried about that, I must admit. I totally agree with Crouchy, I thought when it went 3-1 and then 3-2, I thought there were a couple of people that looked nervy.
'Joe Gomez looked nervy, certainly Fabinho looked really nervy - he made about three mistakes within the space of five minutes and one led to the goal as well.
'You think a team that had gone to the Champions League final last season would be very calm in the group stage but they shook them alright and Liverpool did well to arrest that slide and get back on top.'
But the pair had some complimentary words for Salzburg, who pulled back from a three-goal deficit to be level at 3-3 by the 60th minute through Hwang Hee-chan, Takumi Minamino and substitute Erling Haaland.
'They were incredible', Crouch purred. 'I thought attacking wise, this was their first real test, but they came up showing very well.
'It was a great attacking performance from them. Minamino was class, Hwang, some great individual performances. And Haaland coming off the bench to seal what he thought had been the draw but Salah popped up at the end.
'They deserve credit for that, they had a real go. Their heads could have dropped at 3-0 but they kept up their attacking threat."