Former Port Vale skipper Leon Legge has blamed the League One basement side's predicament on a "fragile" mentality.
The Valiants picked up a point at home to play-off chasing Reading on Saturday thanks to a stoppage-time equaliser, but have taken just one win from their past seven league matches and are 13 points adrift of safety.
Legge made 127 appearances as a centre-half in three-and-a-half seasons for Vale, but pointed to a soft centre in the current side's defending.
"We've come to a point with this team where in games, and if you look at set-pieces and things like that, a bit of pressure and we seem to fold," he told BBC Radio Stoke.
"I used to relish set-pieces coming in, but it seems when a ball comes in with this team we don't seem to clear our lines well enough and it's just all too easy."
Legge questioned the character of the side, labelling their mentality a "little bit fragile", particularly after falling behind in games.
The Valiants have picked up just six points from the 18 league matches in which they have conceded the first goal this season.
Their only win from this position came in the 5-1 thrashing of Blackpool on New Year's Day, although all five of their goals came after the Tangerines had a player sent off.
"It seems like as soon as a goal goes in, the life just goes out of them," Legge said.
"You don't see anyone throw their hands in the air or point at someone to try to get a rise out of them, you don't see any of that.
"It's almost like they're scared to say something, but you really want to see that.
"You want to see something because in the next five to 10 minutes you're going to see how they react to this goal, and for the majority of this season we don't see anything and this is why they're in the position they're in at the moment."
Port Vale are next in league action on Tuesday when they head to third-bottom Northampton Town (19:45 GMT).