Paul says that Michael Carrick's omission from the England squad was due to the injury problem he has had this year.
Paul is disappointed, however, that Trevor Sinclair has not been included in Sven-Goran Eriksson's final 23.
"Michael Carrick is unlucky in that he had a double hernia and otherwise he would have been involved in the World Cup as well," says Paul.
"He was carrying the injury for a little while and then got thrown back in the deep end; it took him a while to regain the rhythm of things but in the last few games he has been in good form.
"People on the terraces see 11 players go out there and judge them on what they see - rightly so.
"But there are times when players go out there not fully fit and are trying to play through problems.
"In the end it got him down to the point where he had to give in to the injury, and that decision was made at Southampton where he had a poor 45 minutes.
"He came in at half time and said 'look, I'm sorry, I can't carry on as I'm letting everyone down.'
"But that is part of things when you have a very small squad."
Paul is sure that Michael's time will come, however, and adds:
"You see the amount of speculation about the number of clubs that are interested in Michael, and there are representatives at our games every week.
"They are not silly, and can see what we have got - and we certainly want to keep hold of Michael."
As for the omission of Trevor, Paul says:
"It is a shame for him when he has been involved in the squads of late.
"But naturally I am delighted for David and Joe to be going."