You could try to enable Mutiny with the Mate Tweak App.
System->Preferences->Look and Feel->Mate Tweak
In the interface section you can select different panel layouts, on of them should be Mutiny.
This will only work if you have updated your PC to latest packages.
That should ensure you have all the right software installed. Then log into the MATE session and use MATE Tweak to switch away from, and then back to, the “Ubuntu MATE” interface. Then Enable Indicators from MATE Tweak. How that look now?
costales@dev:~/Desktop$ sudo apt-get install --no-recommends ubuntu-mate-core
E: Command line option --no-recommends is not understood in combination with the other options
costales@dev:~/Desktop$
I don’t know the importance of --no-recommends Can I install without it?