"They are always under pressure at Anfield to go at teams and we had a game plan to keep it tight and work on the fact that they do get nervous on their own pitch.
"But Liverpool were excellent, and frankly none of the reports we have had on them have indicated that they have played like that before. In fact 4-0 did not flatter them."
Souness is now calling on the players to stand up and be counted in their final seven games as they have slipped perilously close to dreaded relegation zone.
"We all know what a dangerous a position we are now in," he said.
"We have seven games left and will probably have to win three of them. There is no hiding from the facts, this is a a new experience for some of these lads and it will no doubt do their careers good to have experienced it. But I have faith in them.
"Now is the time to stand up and be counted. We must show we are men, it is things like this that form your character at this level.
"We must continue to believe that we are good enough to stay up, we must stand up for ourselves and bounce back. We have a massive next few weeks with games against Leeds and Leicester. It is all down to us now."