"The ref has made vital decisions and it is very easy to say you have to live with them, but the manager has been in, and the ref has admitted he has made some mistakes," says Paul of Dean, who sent off Steve Lomas and failed to give West Ham a free kick prior to Arsenal's second goal.
"But that is no comfort for us, though we also have to say there was a period in the first half where we were all at sea and could have conceded a lot of goals against a very, very good team.
"From my angle, though I haven't seen it again on the telly, it gave me a first reaction that Pires was going out wide.
"It could possibly have been given as a penalty but to send Lomy off as well was very harsh, and you don't want to be 1-0 down against the champions with only 10 men after 14 minutes - that is a big uphill struggle."
Regarding Denis Bergkamp's alleged foul on Lee Bowyer for the second goal - which the FA are going to look at a video of - Paul says: "Their second goal was more disappointing and it was a definite foul on Lee - it shouldn't have been allowed and the referee has admitted that.
"We have to look at our play as well and some of the defending in the first half, especially, and we have got to pick it up against Charlton on Wednesday night."
* This week's reserve game against Wimbledon has been postponed.