It's been a worrying period for Bohemians in the SSE Airticity League, and Keith Treacy says they'll have to develop a bit of back bone if they want to avoid being drawn into a relegation tussle for the rest of the season.
Bohs have won just once in their last 10 games in the league to leave them only four points clear of the promotion/relegation play-off place currently occupied by Dundalk, and six clear of bottom club Drogheda United and the drop.
While Alan Reynolds's men still have two games in hand over the Lilywhites, their current form suggests that the additional fixtures might not be worth much to the north Dublin club.
Their next four league games are tough fixtures as they face leaders Shelbourne home and away, second placed Derry City at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, and Shamrock Rovers - their fiercest rivals - at Dalymount Park.
Taking any points from those four games is a big ask for the Gypsies based upon their recent performances, with Friday's 3-2 defeat to Waterford a real lowpoint.
Bohs looked to have found their rhythm as they moved two up inside 37 minutes in Phibsboro. They couldn't hold on though, as the Blues turned the game on its head after the break.
The sting of defeat was compounded by Dayle Rooney's penalty deep into stoppage time which came crashing back off the underside of the crossbar.
And it was the nature of that collapse in less than 40 minutes which, according to Treacy, will most worry Reynolds.
"There's always going to be periods in the game where you're not quite on top, not playing your best football," he said on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
"When Bohs come off the boil, and they're not quite playing their best football, they just seem to completely fall apart in games.
"They've no backbone, no minimum standard; they really do drop really low. Teams are taking such advantage of it.
"Alan Reynolds has already said he's going to step away from the [Ireland] under-21s. That's just given the amount of pressure he's under with the Bohs thing - people are saying you can't be doing both, especially when results have been so bad at Bohs.
"For me they have the talent there, especially the attacking players. They have the tools to score an awful lot of goals. They just don't have the backbone to keep other teams out and when the going gets tough, a lot of them go missing.
"That's not anything that anybody should be able to throw at their team. If you were to ask Alan Reynolds in a quiet room [he'd tell you that] when the going gets tough, a lot of those players go missing.
"A 2-0 lead at home should never be washed away just as easy as it was."
Speaking on the same podcast, former UCD and Shamrock Rovers midfielder Paul Corry echoed Treacy's views, adding that their results at home have been particularly galling this season.
"Their form at Dalymount is horrendous," he said. "I don't think they've won there in the league since April. That has to be a bit of a worry.
"I don't think they'll be sucked down into that battle [to avoid relegation] between Drogheda and Dundalk. I think they'll be fine."
On a more positive note, Bohs' next game will take them to Mounthawk Park for a first ever senior fixture against Kerry FC in the Sports Direct FAI Cup.
There are just six other Premier Division outfits left in the Cup with big hitters Shamrock Rovers and defending champions St Patrick's Athletic already eliminated.
Going one step better than they did last season, and winning that competition, would bring the club back into Europe for the first time since 2021.
"I think time is needed now for Reynolds to build on the players that he's brought in, the work that he's done, " Corry continued.
"But they've got to cut out some of those mistakes."
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