Rafael Benitez highlighted Newcastle United's lack of spending in comparison to West Ham after the Magpies' winning run came to a crashing halt with a 3-0 home defeat against Manuel Pellegrini's men.
Three successive victories had lifted Newcastle away from the Premier League relegation zone, yet they were ultimately well beaten on Saturday as Javier Hernandez scored in either half prior to a late third from West Ham's club-record signing, Felipe Anderson.
Newcastle had several chances of their own, particularly in between Hernandez's two goals, but failed to take any of them, Ayoze Perez proving particularly wasteful.
Benitez, who again fielded loanee Salomon Rondon in attack, told BBC Sport: "They [West Ham] have spent the money on offensive players and they made the difference."
On the subject of January signings, he added: "We are working on that but it is a question of money. What they spend, what we spend, you can see that on the pitch.
"I cannot complain of the effort of the players or the commitment but again today we had chances, but they scored theirs.
"It is very clear again. Take your chances and don't make mistakes."
Hernandez's 11th-minute opener came just as many Newcastle fans were taking their seats, due to a protest against the 11-year reign of owner Mike Ashley.
"The protest had no effect on the players," insisted Benitez. "We were good enough in the first half. The main thing was the quality of the offensive players of West Ham."
Hernandez, meanwhile, was hailed by Hammers boss Pellegrini after starring on only his third start of the season.
The Mexico forward had been hampered by a virus, but Pellegrini said: "He has recovered his shape now and I hope he will continue to score lots of goals for us.
"Javier has always been a very important player for us. If you review his career, he is a player who has played at Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, the Mexico national team, different countries and everywhere he has scored goals."
